Far-Right and Jihadi Terrorism within the United States: From September 11th to January 6th

• In Event: Criminological Advances in the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence in the United States

Abstract

The juxtaposition of the politically polarizing reactions to the January 6 Capitol attack with unifying reactions to the 9/11 attacks raises the question of why some in the U.S. are tolerant of some types of terrorist violence over others. In this presentation, we argue that black swan events (i.e., 9/11) create existential threats that can be used to justify extreme reactions that would otherwise be politically unacceptable, under the guise of deterrence. Furthermore, when deterrence disproportionately targets one group (i.e., Muslims), terrorist-like behavior by others might be perceived as part of the deterrence mechanism or dismissed as mental illness, making it difficult to recognize it as terrorism. We empirically assess these arguments with data on terrorist attacks in the U.S. and hate crimes targeting Arabs and Muslims.

Authors

• Laura Dugan, Ohio State University

• Daren Fisher, RTI International