terrorism has nothing to do with poverty, and everything to do with blind faith.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: JPS
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0828/p13s02-bogn.html
Byline: What Makes a Terrorist: Economics and the Roots of Terrorism By Alan B. Krueger Princeton University Press 180 pp., $24.95
GRAPHByline: Courtesy of Jon Roemer
Krueger teaches at Princeton University.
Headline: 'What Makes a Terrorist' and why the popular theories may be wrong
Byline: Tony Azios
Date: 08/28/2007
- Theories abound as to what drives people to commit acts of terrorism.
They range from the simplistic ("They hate our freedom") to the more
complex (modern terrorism is a continuation of longstanding religious
and cultural conflicts). The most pervasive rationale on the matter,
however, is that terrorism is nurtured by widespread poverty and a
lack of education.
This explanation is popularly accepted across religious and party
lines and in many academic circles. It is a theory as likely to be
espoused by laymen as by global leaders and so-called experts. It's
an idea people can easily comprehend and embrace because it means
that such abhorrent acts are born from social inequality, a
preventable injustice.
Supporters of that diagnosis will want to read economist Alan B.
Krueger's What Makes a Terrorist: Economics and the Roots of
Terrorism, in which he posits that this assumption couldn't be more
wrong. Within the parameters of Krueger's analysis, it turns out to
be the "economic-deprivation-and-no-education-breeds-terrorism"
theory that fails to hold water.
... deleted
Byline: What Makes a Terrorist: Economics and the Roots of Terrorism By Alan B. Krueger Princeton University Press 180 pp., $24.95
GRAPHByline: Courtesy of Jon Roemer
Krueger teaches at Princeton University.
Headline: 'What Makes a Terrorist' and why the popular theories may be wrong
Byline: Tony Azios
Date: 08/28/2007
- Theories abound as to what drives people to commit acts of terrorism.
They range from the simplistic ("They hate our freedom") to the more
complex (modern terrorism is a continuation of longstanding religious
and cultural conflicts). The most pervasive rationale on the matter,
however, is that terrorism is nurtured by widespread poverty and a
lack of education.
This explanation is popularly accepted across religious and party
lines and in many academic circles. It is a theory as likely to be
espoused by laymen as by global leaders and so-called experts. It's
an idea people can easily comprehend and embrace because it means
that such abhorrent acts are born from social inequality, a
preventable injustice.
Supporters of that diagnosis will want to read economist Alan B.
Krueger's What Makes a Terrorist: Economics and the Roots of
Terrorism, in which he posits that this assumption couldn't be more
wrong. Within the parameters of Krueger's analysis, it turns out to
be the "economic-deprivation-and-no-education-breeds-terrorism"
theory that fails to hold water.
... deleted
1 comment:
To reader raj - from a previous post where we discussed Tavleen's piece in the IE; these words of Alan Krueger may sound prophetic
"Simply expanding access to education without reforming content, warns Krueger, may actually have the unintended effect of promoting terrorism."
I say again - it is not access that Mohammedans lack in India it is content which is not reformed. The fact that the state actually provides a subsidy to "minority institutions" tilts the scales against reformist education emerging amongst them. Why? The reformist has now to fight two battles - first to convince the great unwashed that he may teach Maths but he is just as "Islamic"; but the second battle is resource equalisation with obscurantists that have state funding at their back.
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