How to Fight Terrorism: The Relevance of Qualitative Economics

Using qualitative comparative statics we analyse terrorist choice and government strategy in a context where the qualities or characteristics of the terrorist’s various alternatives are salient to his decision-making. Orthodox choice theory can be used to show what happens when government strategy increases the terrorist’s material or opportunity costs. However, when such a government strategy deliberately or inadvertently emphasises or advertises a particular quality or characteristic of a particular legitimate alternative to political violence, it is possible that this information, intended to alert terrorists to changes in relative costs, increases rather than decreases terrorism. The analysis complements the application of the orthodox model of choice to the study of terrorist behaviour and provides additional insights that are relevant for the development of effective government strategy.