Domestic Terrorism

Abstract

Terrorist incidents have increased tremendously in the last decade, with half of all terrorist attacks between 1970 and 2016 occurring since 2008, according to data from the Global Terrorism Database. While many may be focused on terrorist threats from international adversaries, terroristic violence from within a country may occur more commonly than most realize. Domestic terrorism occurs when citizens of a country engage or threaten to engage in ideologically driven violence in that country targeting other citizens of the same country to send a message to a larger audience. Domestic terrorism differs from international terrorism in that the latter crosses national borders; domestic terrorism differs from homegrown extremism in that citizenship does not matter in the latter.This chapter begins with a conceptualization of domestic terrorism, comparing the term to other similar concepts. Trends in domestic terrorism worldwide locations and targets are explored, drawing data from the Global Terrorism Database where enough information was available to determine that an incident was a domestic attack. Then, plausible explanations for domestic terrorism are reviewed. The chapter concludes with a discussion of possible responses to domestic terrorism and ways to prevent such violence.