Title of Dissertation : STATE INSTABILITY AND TERRORISM Susan Fahey , Doctor of Philosophy , 2010

Title of Dissertation: STATE INSTABILITY AND TERRORISM Susan Fahey, Doctor of Philosophy, 2010 Dissertation directed by: Professor Gary LaFree Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice I explore the relationship between political instability and terrorism in this dissertation, using the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), which contains both domestic and transnational terrorism. I use the Political Instability Task Force data to measure political instability. Breakdown theory suggests that the occurrence of political instability should increase levels of terrorism within a state, because when a rapid social change, such as political instability, occurs, there is a severing of social bonds that tie individuals to society. The effects of the disruption in controls should be to increase levels of nonroutine collective action, of which terrorism is a form (Durkheim, 1930 [1951]; Useem, 1998). In addition, different types of instability ought to invite different levels of terrorism based on the degree of disruption to the societal controls. There are four types of political instability: ethnic war, revolutionary war, genocide and adverse regime change. Further, I extrapolate two theoretical extensions from the breakdown model. The first extension is that more instability episodes should produce more terrorism within a state. The second extension is that when two or more instability episodes occur within a Report Documentation Page Form Approved OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to a penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. 1. REPORT DATE 2010 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 00-00-2010 to 00-00-2010 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE State Instability and Terrorism 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER