A Preliminary Exploration on the Views of Terrorism Among Indian and U.S. College Students

Abstract

No corner of the world is completely safe from terrorist attacks. Both India and the United States have suffered horrific acts of terrorist-inspired violence. While views of terrorism vary for different reasons, culture certainly plays a role. A total of 918 undergraduate college students, composed of 434 Indian students and 484 U.S. students, were surveyed on their views of terrorism, responses to terrorism, and appropriate punishment of terrorists. Ordered ordinal regression results indicated a significant difference on 20 of the 26 items by nationality. Indian participants were more likely to express strong views on the problem of terrorism for society and to see terrorists as more similar to common criminals than their U.S. counterparts. Indian students were also more likely to feel that the government should do whatever was necessary to win against terrorists, while U.S. students were more likely to view winning against terrorists as difficult. Further, Indian respondents were more likely to feel that terrorists needed to be punished harshly and the death penalty would deter them, while U.S. respondents more likely to feel convicted terrorists should be able to appeal their sentences. The results suggest that culture plays a role in shaping terrorism views.