E-Book Overview
This book has some insights but it is clearly written for other economists. If you do not understand economics well, you will only understand half of this book. Moreover, the author is so reluctant to draw conclusions from his research--with good reason, I should add--that it is almost a tease. The conclusions from his findings are very tentative, so while we learn some things from this book, we see how complex terrorism is and how difficult it is to draw broad conclusions about it.
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What Makes a Terrorist
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What Makes a Terrorist Economics and the Roots of Terrorism Lionel Robbins Lectures With a new afterword by the author
ALAN B. KRUEGER
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS Princeton and Oxford
Copyright © 2007 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire ox20 1tw All Rights Reserved Fourth printing, and first paperback printing, 2008 Paperback ISBN: 978-0-691-13875-6 The Library of Congress has cataloged the cloth edition of this book as follows Krueger, Alan B. What makes a terrorist : economics and the roots of terrorism : Lionel Robbins lectures / Alan B. Krueger. p. cm. Book is based on three lectures given by author as part of the distinguished Lionel Robbins memorial lecture series at the London School of Economics and Political Science, February 2006. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-691-13438-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Terrorism. 2. Terrorism—Economic aspects. 3. Terrorists. I. Title. HV6431.K72 2007 363.325′11—dc22 2007018413
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available This book has been composed in Sabon, Gotham, and Scala Sans by Princeton Editorial Associates Inc., Scottsdale, Arizona Printed on acid-free paper. ∞ press.princeton.edu Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4
To the memory of Pat Tillman,
whose life exemplified the courage and dedication of American heroes and whose death revealed their shameful exploitation
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CONTENTS
PREFACE
ix
Introduction
1
1
Who Becomes a Terrorist? Characteristics of Individual Participants in Terrorism 11
2
Where Does Terror Emerge? Economic and Political Conditions and Terrorism
3
53
What Does Terrorism Accomplish? Economic, Psychological, and Political Consequences of Terrorism 105 Questions and Answers Following the Lectures AFTERWORD
163
REFERENCES
177
INDEX
143
187
Chapter Title
vii
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PREFACE
This book is based on a set of three lectures that I gave as part of the Lionel Robbins Memorial Lecture Series at the London School of Economics and Political Science, February 21–23, 2006. That these lectures were delivered on the subject of terrorism is largely a result of the happenstance of world events. When he initially invited me to speak, on behalf of the selection committee, in the spring of 2005, Lord Richard Layard strongly suggested that I present the lectures on the economics of education. Although I had done enough research on education to fill a book, I was at the time most actively engaged in research on terrorism. My instinct was to present the lectures on the causes and consequences of terrorism. We agreed that I would think about the topic. Then, on the morning of July 7, 2005, England suffered one of the worst peacetime attacks in its history, when four young men set off bombs on three underground cars and a bus in central London. Fifty-two people were