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It can happen here: the impact of the Mumbai terror attacks on public opinion in Western Europe

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  • Henning Finseraas
  • Ola Listhaug

Abstract

Do terror attacks have an impact on public opinion, even if the terror attacks happen far away? We exploit the fact that the fourth round of the European Social Survey was conducted in several West European countries at the time of the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, India, in order to identify the causal effect of the Mumbai attacks on public opinion. We identify a clear jump in fear of terrorism at home as a consequence of the terror attacks, but despite the increase in fear of terrorism, we find no significant effect of the attack on support for illiberal interrogation techniques or for liberal immigration policies. We do find indications of a shift in conservative direction on the left–right scale, but this shift is not significant in all time windows. Our findings suggest that a terror attack needs to have a very large impact on the fear of terrorism before people change their policy preferences. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2013

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  • Henning Finseraas & Ola Listhaug, 2013. "It can happen here: the impact of the Mumbai terror attacks on public opinion in Western Europe," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 213-228, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:156:y:2013:i:1:p:213-228
    DOI: 10.1007/s11127-011-9895-7
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    Cited by:

    1. Sander WAGNER & Ivaylo D. PETEV, 2019. "The Economic Penalty of Terrorism: Increase in Discrimination Against Arabs and Muslims after Paris Attacks," Working Papers 2019-22, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
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    3. Kelejian, Harry H. & Mukerji, Purba, 2022. "Causal factors of terrorist attacks on countries, and corresponding spill-overs between them," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    4. Athina Economou & Christos Kollias, 2019. "Security policy preferences of EU citizens: Do terrorist events affect them?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 178(3), pages 445-471, March.
    5. Paschalis Arvanitidis & Athina Economou & Christos Kollias, 2016. "Terrorism’s effects on social capital in European countries," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 231-250, December.
    6. Akay, Alpaslan & Bargain, Olivier & Elsayed, Ahmed, 2020. "Global terror, well-being and political attitudes," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    7. Helbling, Marc & Meierrieks, Daniel, 2022. "Terrorism and Migration: An Overview," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(2), pages 977-996, April.
    8. Schüller, Simone, 2015. "The 9/11 conservative shift," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 80-84.
    9. Peri, Giovanni & Rees, Daniel I. & Smith, Brock, 2023. "Terrorism and political attitudes: Evidence from European social surveys," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    10. Maurice Dunaiski & Janne Tukiainen, 2023. "Does income transparency affect support for redistribution? Evidence from Finland's tax day," Discussion Papers 159, Aboa Centre for Economics.
    11. Tripathi, Ishita, 2022. "Are terrorists responsible for anti-immigrant sentiments? Evidence from Europe," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    12. Krieger, Tim, 2020. "Migration and terrorism," Discussion Paper Series 2020-06, University of Freiburg, Wilfried Guth Endowed Chair for Constitutional Political Economy and Competition Policy.
    13. Nowak, Anna, 2019. "Rally around the EU flag! Supra-nationalism in the light of Islamist terrorism," CIW Discussion Papers 5/2019, University of Münster, Center for Interdisciplinary Economics (CIW).
    14. Benny Geys & Salmai Qari, 2017. "Will you still trust me tomorrow? The causal effect of terrorism on social trust," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 173(3), pages 289-305, December.
    15. Benny Geys & Øystein Hernæs, 2021. "Party leaders and voter responses to political terrorism," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 187(3), pages 481-499, June.
    16. Tobias Böhmelt & Vincenzo Bove & Enzo Nussio, 2020. "Can Terrorism Abroad Influence Migration Attitudes at Home?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(3), pages 437-451, July.
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    19. Akay, Alpaslan & Bargain, Olivier & Elsayed, Ahmed, 2018. "Everybody's a Victim? Global Terror, Well-Being and Political Attitudes," Working Papers in Economics 733, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    20. Peri, Giovanni & Rees, Daniel I. & Smith, Brock, 2020. "Terrorism, Political Opinions, and Election Outcomes: Evidence from Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 13090, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    21. Economou Athina & Kollias Christos, 2015. "Terrorism and Political Self-Placement in European Union Countries," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 21(2), pages 217-238, April.
    22. Lange, Martin & Schmidt, Alexander, 2023. "High-profile crime and perceived public safety: Evidence from Cologne's new year's eve in 2015," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-068, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    23. Jensen, Carsten & Naumann, Elias, 2016. "Increasing pressures and support for public healthcare in Europe," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(6), pages 698-705.

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