Social Exclusion and Political Violence: Multilevel Analysis of the Justification of Terrorism

Research on the causes of terrorism tends to focus on broad national-level trends without examining how such factors influence individuals and their propensity for political violence. Meanwhile, theories of radicalization have yielded important insight on how individuals embrace terrorism, but the transformation does not occur within a vacuum divorced from contextual factors. This article is therefore an attempt to bridge macro-micro linkages to better understand the causes of terrorism, and focuses on levels of socio-political exclusion within a country. Using multilevel analysis, the article finds a consistently positive relationship between levels of social exclusion and individual support for terrorism. The results help capture the multidimensional nature of the causes of terrorism and better informs counterterrorism policymaking.