Does poverty cause terrorism?

Many of us are of the belief that poverty is the root cause of terrorism, that the Abu Sayyafs are so poor that they have to resort to terrorist attacks in order to survive, and that if financial aid is given to these terrorists, there will be peace in Mindanao.

An article by Allan B. Krueger and Jitka Maleckova which appeared in The New Republic and which has been reproduced by Alert, a publication of the Thomas Jefferson Cultural Center of the US Embassy, takes cognizance of the popular view that poverty – and poor education – are root causes of terrorism. The authors, however, take the view that evidence provides "little reason for optimism that a reduction in poverty or an increase in educational attainment would, by themselves, meaningfully reduce international terrorism. Any connection between poverty, education, and terrorism is indirect, complicated, and probably quite weak."

In fact, in the aftermath of September 11, policymakers have called for increased aid and educational assistance as a means for ending terrorism. American President George Bush has been quoted as saying, "We fight against poverty because hope is an answer to terror."

But Krueger and Maleckova suggest that instead of viewing terrorism as a direct response to low market opportunities or lack of education, terrorism should be "more accurately viewed as a response to political conditions and long-standing feelings of indignity and frustration (perceived or real) that have little to do with economics."

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Drawing a "false and unjustified" connection between poverty and terrorism, write the authors, is "potentially quite dangerous", as the international aid community may lose interest in providing support to developing nations when the imminent threat of terrorism recedes, like the waning of support for development in the aftermath of the Cold War.

Connecting foreign aid with terrorism also risks the possibility of humiliating many people in less developed countries, who are implicitly told that they receive aid only to prevent them from committing acts of terror.

Kruger and Maleckova posit that alleviating poverty "is reason enough to pressure economically advanced countries to provide more aid than they are currently giving." (But) falsely connecting terrorism to poverty serves only to deflect attention from the real roots of terrorism. "There are numerous definitions of terrorism, but scholars tend to place more emphasis on the intention of terrorists to cause fear and terror among a target population that is considerably larger than the actual victims of their attacks, and to influence the views of the larger audience. The actual victim of the violence is thus not the main target of the terrorist act, say the authors. Scholarly definitions also include nation-states as potential perpetrators of terrorism."

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The authors have examined incidents that could be thought of as involving politically motivated violence. As is conventional in economics, they say, "involvement in terrorism is viewed as a rational decision, depending on the benefits, costs, and risks involved in engagement in terrorism. Not surprisingly, the standard rational-choice framework does not yield an unambiguous answer to the question of whether higher income and more education would reduce participation in terrorism."

In the above contest, they have also reviewed evidence on "hate crimes", which can be viewed as "a close cousin to terrorism in that the target of an offense is selected because of his or her group identity, not because of his or her individual behavior, and because the effect of both is to wreak terror in a greater number of people than those directly affected by the violence. A consensus is emerging in the social science literature that the incidence of hate crimes, such as lynchings of African Americans or violence against Turks in Germany, bears little relation to economic conditions.

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A public opinion poll conducted in the West Bank And Gaza strip by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research showed that breaking down the data by education and occupation showed support for violence against Israeli targets is widespread in the Palestinian population, and at least as great among those with higher education and higher living standards as it is among the unemployed and the illiterate. Similar, a review of the incidence of major terrorist acts over time in Israel showed the same skepticism about the idea that poverty is a cause of terrorism.

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Evidence is accumulating that more-educated people from privilege backgrounds are more likely to participate in politics, probably part because political involvement requires some minimum level of interest, expertise, commitment to issues, and effort, all of which are more likely if people are educated enough and prosperous enough to concern themselves with more than economic subsistence. These factors should outweigh the effect of opportunity cost on individuals‚ decision to become involve din terrorism."

"The demand side for terrorists must be considered as well as the supply side. Terrorist organizations may prefer highly educated individuals over less-educated ones, even for suicide bomb attacks. In addition, educated middle-class or upper-class individuals are better suited to carry out acts of international terrorism than are impoverished illiterates, because the terrorists must fit into a foreign environment to be successful. This consideration suggests that terrorists who threaten economically developed countries will disproportionately be drawn from the ranks of the relatively well off and highly educated."

On the whole, we must conclude that there is little reason to be optimistic that a reduction in poverty or increase in educational attainment will lead to a meaningful reduction in the amount of international terrorism without other changes.

Kruger and Maleckova take note of Jessica Stern's observation that many madrasahs, or religious schools, in Pakis-tan are funded by wealthy industrialists and that those schools deliberately educate students to become foot soldiers and elite operatives in various extremist movements around the world. She reported that most madrasahs offer only religious instruction, ignoring math, science, and other secular subjects important for functioning in modern society. "These observations suggest that," say the authors, "in order to use education as part of a strategy to reduce terrorism, the international community should not limit itself to increasing years of schooling, but should consider very carefully the content of education."

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Studies have yet to come out regarding the motivations of the Abu Sayyaf. Are they in it for the money? Are they well-educated, have enough food and education to support Krueger's and Maleckova observation that terrorism is not rooted in poverty?

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