(Stephanie Kaplan is a Visiting Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center). We seem to have reached the consensus that poverty–along with other grievances such as political oppression and cultural alienation–are not reliable indicators of future terrorist activity.
One of the central challenges for the next president will be to address the precipitous decline in the United States’ popularity throughout the world that has characterized the Bush years. This is in part a result of stepped-up US counterterrorism efforts, which have clashed with once sacrosanct internationalist tenets like sovereignty.
(Paul Cruickshank is a Fellow at the NYU Center on Law and Security). I agree with the other panellists that no link can be demonstrated between poverty and terrorism. This is not to say that socio-economic conditions have no relevance whatsoever.
(Peter Bergen is a Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation).
(Eric Rosand is a senior fellow at the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation in New York and a nonresident fellow at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation).
(Matthew Levitt is a Senior fellow and Director of the Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy). Here’s my first two cents: Poverty, in and of itself, does not lead to terrorism.
(Greg Djerejian is a financial services professional and publishes the popular blog The Belgravia Dispatch). I certainly believe there are links between poverty and terrorism, but particularly in terms of the West’s so-called Global War on Terror, I believe more important are other variables such as the ones mentioned in the prompt, e.g.
John McCain and I have something in common: we have both tried recently, and failed, to get op-eds picked up by major newspapers. But I daresay McCain’s snub from the New York Times two days ago is a bit more important to the average Washington Note reader.
To begin the online terrorism salon Mark Goldberg of UN Dispatch offers the first question on the relationship between poverty and terrorism: On Day One is a social media site sponsored by the United Nations Foundation and the Better World Campaign that asks everyday people to offer their ideas about what the next president should…
Over the course of a week I will be hosting and moderating an online salon discussion on terrorism in conjunction with Mark Goldberg of UN Dispatch. The questions and prompts will cover everything from defining the scope of the threat to root causes to the most effective counterterrorism tactics within a broader strategy.
