Abstract. Acts of terrorism left unclaimed have puzzled scholars in the study of terrorism and counter-terrorism policymakers alike. Terrorist attacks are understood as costly forms of signaling which, when left unclaimed, run contrary to the conventional wisdom of credit-taking and political communication in terrorism. Existing research on unclaimed attacks has generally focused on understanding the determinants of credit-taking by looking at the likelihood that terrorist groups take credit. However, this approach often neglects the fact that, according to the Global Terrorism Database, just 14 percent of terrorist attacks since 1970 have been claimed. By focusing on the vast majority of attacks that are unclaimed, this paper recovers data on all recorded attacks by examines the country-level determinants of unclaimed attacks. It relaxes the assumptions of the unitary actor model and argues that a ’freelancing’ model of terrorist organization can explain the high incidence of unclaimed attacks. Results from partially nested multi-level regression models and a text analysis of Al-Qaeda documents suggest that countries with, on average, younger and more weakly organized groups experience more unclaimed attacks.

Abstract. How does political violence shape local attitudes towards social cohesion? Establishing peace in post-conflict settings is often tied to efforts towards reconciliation and justice for the victims and their families. In this paper, we study the long-term political consequences of the Bosnian war and genocide on attitudes towards ethnic harmony and trust among Bosnians today. Using biographical data on individuals killed between 1992 and 1995 in Bosnia, we find that while violence reduces inter-ethnic trust and harmony attitudes, the effect of exposure to violence differs by generational cohorts, which we attribute to older generations’ exposure to other violence, namely World War II. We further document evidence of differences in generational attitudes through qualitative interviews with Bosnians of different ages. Our study contributes to the growing literature on the legacy of political violence and the study of intergenerational reconciliation and memory transmission in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Abstract. What is the relationship between terrorism and religious repression? Because they often involve increased state repression, counterterrorism strategies can be costly. This is not only because they require a coercive apparatus, but also because they can be counterproductive. First, they can increase the state’s vulnerability to future terrorist attacks —whether domestic or transnational. Second, and related, they can undermine the protection of basic human rights and civil liberties, including religious freedom. This begs the question why state engage in such costly behavior. Many argue that states are legitimately responding to the threat posed by terrorism when they enact these repressive policies. However, others contend that states deliberately exaggerate the threat because they need a smokescreen to enact repressive policies. Nowhere is this divide more prominent than in the context of Muslim majority countries (MMCs) where states often seek to control the religious sphere by restricting Islamic beliefs and practices. Some, including state leaders themselves, argue that these policies are necessary to mitigate the threat of extremist religious groups. Yet, others claim that the threat of Islamist terrorism is a smoke screen for state leaders to justify increasing religious repression and that it is these repressive policies that promote religiously-motivated violence. We contribute to this debate by addressing two key challenges: 1) measuring threat perception and 2) accessing granular data on religious repression. Using a new latent measure of threat coupled with a novel dataset of religious regulation in three Central Asian MMCs – Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan – we document significant differences in the relationship between terrorism and religious regulation across regime types. 

Abstract. What role do mosques in the United States play in local economic development? The literature on American Muslims has largely focused on the contested nature of their citizenship in a post-9/11 era. Mosques have been seen as sites for fostering political and civic engagement, developing community cohesion, and promoting a collective expression of Islam. The economic transformations that the mosque may induce have been neglected in the literature. In this paper, we argue that the mosque serves as an important hub for attracting Muslims to build networks in the local community where the mosque is established. To test the role of mosque establishment on the promotion of local economic development, we leverage an original dataset of approximately 2,700 mosques across the United States.