Conflict undermines development, while poverty, in turn, breeds conflict. Policy interventions such as cash transfers could lower engagement in conflict by raising poor households' welfare and productivity. However, cash transfers may also trigger appropriation or looting of cash or assets. The...

As elsewhere, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to tragic loss of life and triggered a major economic downturn in Indonesia. The authorities have responded with a bold and comprehensive policy package that has successfully maintained economic and financial stability. With the recovery underway, they...

Early and decisive measures successfully prevented an outbreak of COVID-19 in Nauru, and as of January 2022 there have been no COVID-19 cases on the island. Strong pandemic policy measures supported the economy, which continued to expand in FY20 and FY21. Nauru's remoteness and size constrain...

The National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia (NBRNM) is implementing advanced transparency practices. The long-standing commitment to transparency noted by a number of stakeholders and forcefully re-affirmed in the recent period is well anchored in the law, and it has been designated by...

We examine how terrorism alters the demand for education through perceived risks and returns by relating terrorist attacks to media signal coverage and schooling in Kenya. Exploiting geographical and temporal variation in wireless signal coverage and attacks, we establish that media access...

Somalia, one of the poorest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, still faces many challenges as it remains fragile. Terrorist groups and their attacks are threatening the government and limiting its capacity to implement effective development policies. Using difference-in-difference and instrumental...

The COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis was a reminder, if any were needed, that criminal creativity thrives in times of chaos, exploiting people's fears. Unsafe face masks, counterfeit drugs, and suspect medical equipment flooded the market, touted as miracle cures against the coronavirus by...

The National Money Laundering/Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment (NRA) Toolkit has been developed by World Bank Group (WBG) staff members to support WBG client countries and jurisdictions in self-assessing their money laundering and terrorist financing risks.The nonprofit organization (NPO)...

Motivated by recent examples of collective effort on the war on terror, we examine the incentives that retaliation may produce for the endogenous formation of an international counterterror coalition. We show that there are quite reasonable circumstances under which any nation that is a target...

To date, there is limited understanding about the consequences of wartime dynamics for post-war state-building processes. This paper explores one such dynamics-the forms of governance exercised by armed groups during wartime-and proposes a theoretical framework outlining how forms of wartime...

In a DIIS Working Paper that summarizes earlier contributions, Mona Kanwal Sheikh describes the development in her work on worldview analysis. She has worked on two intertwined concepts and frameworks for thinking; first sociotheology (Juergensmeyer & Sheikh 2013) and secondly worldviews...

The word 'worldview' comes from German philosophy and literally signifies an all-inclusive 'vision of the world'. Nowadays, the word has a more generic cultural or geopolitical usage, often associated with an equivocal or indefinite meaning. Looking at its history, this paper intends to clarify...

This study examines whether the rally 'round the flag phenomenon is present in the context of terrorist attacks, and investigates the explanations for the related increase of confidence in political institutions and political approval of the incumbent's job performance. I exploit variations in...

This study examines whether the rally 'round the flag phenomenon is present in the context of terrorist attacks, and investigates the explanations for the related increase of confidence in political institutions and political approval of the incumbent's job performance. I exploit variations in...

Political violence is a worldwide problem that has been on the rise over the past decade. The international dimension of domestic repression and dissent is a particularly relevant factor yet surprisingly understudied. In particular, governments that heavily depend on foreign aid may crack down...

This chapter discusses the role of military interventionism and aid in nation-building. We argue that (1) intervention strategies of foreign actors like the United States often unfavorably interact with local institutional settings, which (2) produces undesired outcomes not only for the target...

Terrorism is a major issue in the 21st century. In this paper we examine the effect of terrorism on the stock market. We go beyond previous studies to explore the spectre of terrorism on the market rather than terrorist activities. Using a narrative-based approach à la Shiller (2019), we find...

This chapter discusses the role of military interventionism and aid in nation-building. We argue that (1) intervention strategies of foreign actors like the United States often unfavorably interact with local institutional settings, which (2) produces undesired outcomes not only for the target...

Numerous studies demonstrate that terrorism causes strong public reactions immediately after the attack, with important implications for democratic institutions and individual well-being. Yet, are these effects short-lived? We answer this question using a quasi-experimental design and data on...

Since the United States withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021 and the Taliban took power in the country, the local branch of Islamic State (IS) - the so-called Khorasan Province - has carried out dozens of attacks on Taliban "security forces" and civilians, resulting in hundreds of deaths....

We compare the realised impact of terrorism and disasters linked to natural hazards. Using fifty years of data from two databases covering 99 percent of the global population, we find that natural hazard disasters were more then 20 times more impactful than terrorism. The former had a larger...

The economic development of many countries globally relies heavily on tourism arrivals and spending. Terrorist attacks, political unrest, and other external shocks create disruptions and imbalances that lead to tourism crises with devastating effects on a country's economy. The paper...

What accounts for armed violence in the aftermath of civil war? Efforts to develop a comprehensive framework to understand this phenomenon have been made in the literature. Yet existing studies have in general looked at distinct pre-war, wartime, and post-war sources of violence in the aftermath...

Many studies have examined ISIS’ usage of Twitter and other Internet platforms to cultivate their “online caliphate.” Despite all of this attention on the online sphere, relatively few studies have examined how online propaganda influences real-world behavior. Of those studies that exist,...

Terrorist attacks tend to happen concomitantly, begetting widespread violence, perturb individual routine life, bring dire effect on the economy and ultimately cause volatility in stock prices. This research tries to assess the impact of substantial terrorist incidents that took place in the...

This paper analyzes the effects of terrorist attacks on stock market. Especially, we investigate the impact of terrorist attacks produced in Tunisia on the Tunisian stock market. Considering the period from 11 May 2011 to 14 March 2016 and relying on an event study methodology, we find that the...

The paper examines how two targeted countries strategically deploy their counterterror forces when lobbying defense firms influence counterterror provision. For proactive measures, lobbying activities in a single targeted country lessen underprovision, raise overall counterterrorism, and reduce...