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Democracy, civil liberties, and hostage-taking terrorism

Author

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  • Chia-yi Lee

    (Department of Political Science, Washington University in St Louis)

Abstract
While hostage-taking has been a common form of terrorism for decades, which types of governments are more prone to it remains unclear. Does democracy motivate terrorists to engage in hostage-taking acts because of how easy negotiating with a democratic government is? Or does democracy impose ‘audience costs’ on the government leaders, driving them never to negotiate with hostage-taking terrorists following the long-held principle of no negotiation? This article argues that hostage-taking terrorists are more inclined to target democratic governments because of the greater value given to human life and personal freedom in democracies. Additionally the helplessness of held hostages is more freely exposed by the media in democracies, which leads to the audience focusing on the hostages themselves rather than on the interests of the nation. This in turns compels decisionmakers to concede, especially near election time. It is only when institutional constraints on the executives are high that democratic leaders refuse to make concessions. Using data on hostage events from 1978 to 2005, this article finds strong evidence that supports this theory, showing that democracy has competing effects on hostage-taking terrorism – civil liberties and press freedom are positively associated with hostage-taking incidents, whereas executive constraints have a negative association.

Suggested Citation

  • Chia-yi Lee, 2013. "Democracy, civil liberties, and hostage-taking terrorism," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 50(2), pages 235-248, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:joupea:v:50:y:2013:i:2:p:235-248
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    File URL: http://jpr.sagepub.com/content/50/2/235.abstract
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Asongu, Simplice A. & Le Roux, Sara & Singh, Pritam, 2021. "Fighting terrorism in Africa: Complementarity between inclusive development, military expenditure and political stability," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 43(5), pages 897-922.
    2. Simplice A. Asongu & Vanessa S. Tchamyou & Ndemaze Asongu & Nina Tchamyou, 2018. "The Comparative African Economics of Governance in Fighting Terrorism," Research Africa Network Working Papers 18/055, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    3. Asongu, Simplice A. & Biekpe, Nicholas, 2018. "Globalization and terror in Africa," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 86-97.
    4. Asongu, Simplice A. & Nwachukwu, Jacinta C., 2017. "The Impact of Terrorism on Governance in African Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 253-270.
    5. Simplice A. Asongu & Stella-Maris I. Orim & Rexon T. Nting, 2019. "Terrorism and Social Media: Global Evidence," Journal of Global Information Technology Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(3), pages 208-228, July.
    6. Asongu, Simplice & Tchamyou, Vanessa & Asongu, Ndemaze & Tchamyou, Nina, 2019. "Fighting terrorism in Africa when existing terrorism levels matter," MPRA Paper 102026, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Simplice Asongu & Vanessa Tchamyou & Ndemaze Asongu & Nina Tchamyou, 2019. "Fighting terrorism in Africa: evidence from bundling and unbundling institutions," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 883-933, March.
    8. Simplice Asongu & Jacinta Nwachukwu & Sara le Roux, 2019. "The role of inclusive development and military expenditure in modulating the effect of terrorism on governance," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(3), pages 681-709, August.
    9. Asongu, Simplice A. & Tchamyou, Vanessa S. & Minkoua N., Jules R. & Asongu, Ndemaze & Tchamyou, Nina P., 2018. "Fighting terrorism in Africa: Benchmarking policy harmonization," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 492(C), pages 1931-1957.

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