Hate Begets Hate; Violence Begets Violence: The Case of Domestic Terrorism on Behalf of Ethnic Groups

This thesis focuses on the main factors leading to terrorism, the connections between terrorism and civil wars and how terrorism and civil war can affect each other. For the theoretical clarity, I decided to deal only with ethnically motivated domestic terrorism since I argue that ethnic component as well as domestic focus significantly affect mobilization and targeting strategy. For the purpose of the PhD research, the Database Ethnically Motivated Terrorist Attacks (DEMTA) is built using the Ethnic Power Relationship (EPR) dataset, the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), information from the Terrorist Organizations Profiles (TOPs) and other sources. The first chapter introduces the concept of ethnically motivated terrorism and a newly built database providing information on terrorist attacks committed on behalf of ethnic groups. The chapter connects theories on causes of terrorism and ethnic violence to build a complex theory on causes of ethnically motivated domestic terrorism which is empirically tested. The second chapter explores the relationship between terrorism and civil war. Studies on terrorism show that intensity of terrorist incidents varies over time. A closer look on data on ethnically motivated terrorism shows that frequency of terrorist incidents is higher in post-war period than in pre-war periods. I explain the increase in the number of terrorist attacks by radicalization of the ordinary people which is caused by exposure to a systematic violence. The third chapter adds the concept of the lethality of terrorism to the classic explanation of motivation and capabilities as the main factors affecting the likelihood of of civil war. Motivation and capability are not enough to explain the occurrence of civil war as while they might address the potential for action they do not address the resolve to use this potential. The main findings of this thesis show that political exclusion leads to mobilization often resulting to civil war which radicalizes people. Subsequently, radicalized people are more prone to the use of violence, including terrorism. Lethal terrorism further mobilizes people and increases likelihood of civil war.