| Transnational terrorism (TNT) is a process that, by definition, involves both international and domestic actors. A non-trivial portion of the literature that seeks to answer the question of why TNT occurs has focused on country-level characteristics (democracy, wealth/poverty, etc.). I argue that these country characteristics create opportunities for TNT, but not necessarily the motivation for actors to commit acts of TNT. A more complete explanation of TNT needs to include both opportunity and motivation factors at both the domestic and international level. In addition to the need for consideration of both opportunities and motivations, I also argue that we need to look at both domestic and international processes to explain TNT, and that to do so we should explore the transnational consequences of a state's foreign policy. I argue that if a foreign policy creates a perception of threat towards the economic and physical freedom of the citizens in a country targeted by another country's foreign policy, the number of TNT attacks against the initiator of the policy will increase. If the policy's impact on their freedoms is positive, the number of TNT attacks will decrease. Using ITERATE data, I test this theory in different foreign policy scenarios. The results suggest that countries need to consider the possibility that some foreign policies create negative externalities (such as TNT) and prepare for these contingencies. |
