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What Leads Some Ordinary Arab Men and Women to Approve of Terrorist Acts Against the United States?

Department of Political Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Michael D. H. Robbins

Department of Political Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Findings from representative national surveys in Algeria and Jordan show that neither religious orientations, judgments about Western culture, nor economic circumstances account for variance in approval of terrorist acts against U.S. targets. Alternatively, in both countries, approval of terrorism against the United States is disproportionately likely among men and women with negative judgments about their own government and about U.S. foreign policy. Taken together, these findings suggest that approval of terrorism is fostered by negative attitudes toward actors considered responsible for the political and economic status quo. Given that Algeria and Jordan have had different experiences with respect to terrorism and also differ in demographic, political, and economic structure, identical findings from these dissimilar countries suggest that the observed relationships are not country specific and may apply more generally.

Key Words: terrorism • attitudes • Algeria • Jordan

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