Does poverty fuel terrorism?

Popular belief suggests that poverty is the primary cause of terrorism. However, several prominent studies have found little or no empirical support for this notion. I argue that these studies often overlook specific terrorist groups that recruit individuals from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. I propose conceptual frameworks that connect poor economic conditions to four distinct political objectives of terrorist groups: ethnonationalist, left-wing, right-wing, and religious fundamentalist. To support my argument, I analyze a sample of 726 terrorist groups from 1970 to 2016. My findings indicate that poverty and inequality have a significant and positive effect on the activities of left-wing and right-wing terrorist groups, but do not have the same impact on ethnonationalist and religious fundamentalist terrorist groups. Interestingly, these significant relationships diminish when conventional statistical analysis is applied to assess the effect of poverty on all terrorist activities combined. I conclude that poverty alleviation measures can be effective counterterrorism strategies, as they may ameliorate a primary motivator of economically disadvantaged individuals engaging in left-wing and right-wing terrorism.