Does Terror Threaten Human Rights? Evidence from Panel Data

KOF Working Papers No. 156

41 Pages Posted: 15 Feb 2007

See all articles by Axel Dreher

Axel Dreher

Heidelberg University

Martin Gassebner

ETH Zurich - KOF Swiss Economic Institute; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Lars H.R. Siemers

University of Siegen

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: February 2007

Abstract

The paper presents a political economy model linking terror and governments' respect for human rights. Using panel data for 111 countries over the period 1973-2002, we then empirically analyze whether and to what extent terror affects human rights - measured by three indices covering a wide variety of human rights aspects. According to our results, terror substantially diminishes governments' respect for basic human rights such as absence of extrajudicial killings, political imprisonment, and torture. To some extent, civil rights are also restricted as a consequence of terrorism, while we find no effect of terrorism on empowerment rights.

Keywords: Terrorism, Human Rights, Civil Liberties, Suicide Attacks

JEL Classification: D74, F52, P48

Suggested Citation

Dreher, Axel and Gassebner, Martin and Siemers, Lars H.R., Does Terror Threaten Human Rights? Evidence from Panel Data (February 2007). KOF Working Papers No. 156, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=963166 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.963166

Axel Dreher (Contact Author)

Heidelberg University ( email )

Grabengasse 1
Heidelberg, 69117
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.axel-dreher.de

Martin Gassebner

ETH Zurich - KOF Swiss Economic Institute ( email )

Weinbergstrasse 35
Zurich, 8092
Switzerland

HOME PAGE: http://www.kof.ethz.ch/chair/

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute) ( email )

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

Lars H.R. Siemers

University of Siegen ( email )

Department of Economics
Hoelderlinstr. 3
Siegen, 57068
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://sites.google.com/site/lhsiemers/

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