| The study of terrorism is plagued by three problems - lack of strong theory, a disconnect between academic and public policy work, and the absence of empirical validation. Although the three papers in my dissertation will address different subjects within the study of terrorism, the commonality is a concerted attempt to address the above shortcomings. In the first paper, "The Nefarious Helping Hand", I demonstrate theoretically and empirically via case studies that many terrorist groups are significantly more complex than one-dimensional media and (sometime) academic portrayals, and that these groups depend heavily on well-developed social services and anti-corruption campaigns to gain support from the population. In the second paper, "Terrorism as Revenge for Perceived Unfairness", I argue that terrorism is driven by many of the same motivations as other forms of violence. I argue that perceptions of fairness and species-common inclinations for revenge to punish these perceived violations of fairness are often key motivations for individuals to pursue terrorism. In my third paper, I address a key debate within the terrorism literature---the relative importance of madrassahs for training terrorists. I argue that the two contending positions---madrassahs are not important for recruitment of terrorists and madrassahs are breeding grounds for terror are both overstated. I find that radical madrassah exposure is strongly associated with terrorist activity and is associated with more important roles on terrorist operations in Southeast Asia. |
