Class Year

2020

Document Type

Student Research Paper

Date of Creation

Fall 2016

Department 1

Political Science

Abstract

In this paper, I explore the effect that proximity to terrorist-controlled areas has on countries’ economies. I posit that there exists a correlation between the aforementioned proximity and GDP growth rates, and hypothesize that the closer a country is to an area with high levels of terrorism, the more likely it is that its economy will be negatively affected. I begin by examining the nature of the correlation between terrorism and economic growth; following this, I explore the direct ways in which terrorism affects economic growth. Next, I delve into the recent economic history of countries around three areas: the Nigeria area, the Afghanistan-Pakistan area, and the Iraq-Syria area. From my examinations of the GDP growth rates of the countries around these areas, I find no uniform relationship between the countries’ proximity to their respective areas and their GDP growth rates. To help explain this apparent lack of correlation, I look at other factors that influence GDP growth rates and note that these factors may be overshadowing the effects of terrorism. I conclude that there is no uniform relationship between a country’s proximity to high levels of terrorism and its GDP; although terrorism can have effects on countries’ economies, those effects are often negligible compared to other economic factors.

Comments

Written for POL 103: Intro International Relations.

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