How odd. I was reading through the new issue of International Studies Quarterly (a big deal in poli sci and IR circles as it's the lead journal of the International Studies Association) and came across an article with this provocative title. Obviously the (possible) link between a country's religion and the incidence of political terror is a sexy topic, one that would appeal to quite a number of readers. But isn't the time frame of this study rather peculiar? As we all know there's been a good deal of terrorism in the 21st century, a good deal of it in the Islamic world ... am I the only one who finds it odd that a top journal would publish something like this with only kinda sorta timely data?
Anyway, in case you you were wondering, the authors (Indra de Soysa and Ragnhild Nordas) find that religious variables don't have a great deal of explanatory power when it comes to explaining whether or not a country suffers from political terror. Political and economic factors matter a lot more. Being in the Arab region hurts, but over the 20 year time period they study Latin America has a more powerful effect when it comes to a regional influence. And countries containing a larger share of Catholics suffered worse than those with a larger share of Muslims.
Posted by armand at December 30, 2007 11:50 PM | TrackBack | Posted to The Academy