Do Terrorists Get the Attention They Want?: COMPARING EFFECTS OF TERRORISM ACROSS EUROPE

Area of Science:

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Criminology

Background:

• Terrorist groups aim to influence broader audiences beyond immediate victims.
• Previous research on terrorism's influence is limited by single-case studies and incomparable metrics.
• Understanding public attention is crucial for analyzing terrorism's impact.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the first-order effect of terrorism: public attention.
• To determine if terrorist attacks consistently garner public attention.
• To compare the attention-grabbing impact of different-sized terrorist attacks.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a quasi-experimental approach with a comparative design.
• Analyzed Eurobarometer survey data from over 80,000 individuals.
• Examined responses before and after five Islamist attacks in Europe (2013-2019).

Main Results:

• All analyzed terrorist incidents increased attention to terrorism in their respective countries.
• The size of the attack did not affect whether attention was raised.
• Only larger attacks demonstrated a meaningful impact on public attention across Europe.

Conclusions:

• Terrorism effectively captures public attention, regardless of attack scale.
• Significant cross-European impact on attention is contingent upon the magnitude of the attack.
• Public attention is a critical, measurable first-order effect of terrorism.