International Military Interventions and Transnational Terrorist Backlash

2018/08/02 by James A. Piazza, James A Piazza, Seung-Whan Choi · 45 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance #Criminology #Development economics #Economics #International relations #Law #Political Conflict and Governance #Political economy #Political science #Politics #Psychological intervention #Psychology #Socioeconomic status #Sociology #Terrorism #Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence

paper · doi:10.1093/isq/sqy026

published in International Studies Quarterly 62(3), 686-695 (Oxford University Press)

openalex publication_date 2018/08/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25

Abstract

Are states that engage in foreign military interventions vulnerable to subsequent transnational terrorist attacks? If so, do all types of foreign interventions stimulate terrorism? Using data on international military interventions for 125 to 182 countries during the period from 1970 to 2005, we demonstrate that states experience more terrorism after they engage in military interventions. In particular, politico-strategic use of military force abroad—for example, interference in another country's domestic disputes, territorial interventions, or interventions to affect local politics and policy—leads to increased subsequent transnational terrorist attacks for the intervener. In contrast, socioeconomic foreign military interventions, such as those geared toward providing humanitarian relief, protecting social groups, or securing economic interests, do not lead to an increase in transnational terrorist attacks against intervening states.

Citations

• The Causes of Terrorism
• Foreign Military Interventions and Suicide Attacks
• Democracy, Foreign Policy, and Terrorism
• Domestic versus transnational terrorism: Data, decomposition, and dynamics

Cited by

• Balancing Act: Coercion, Terrorism, and Regime Stability
• Ripe moments for terror attacks: Opportunity benefits–reputation tradeoff
• Toward an Integrated Psychological Model of Violent Extremism
• The Veil of Gender: De-Sensationalizing the Lethality of Female Suicide Terrorism
• Persistent failure? International interventions since World War II

Related

• Terrorism and Foreign Policy
• Foreign Military Interventions and Suicide Attacks
• Why Does the United States Intervene Abroad? Democracy, Human Rights Violations, and Terrorism
• Democracy, Foreign Policy, and Terrorism
• Fair-Weather Allies? Terrorism and the Allocation of US Foreign Aid