scholarly journals Threat Perception, Policy Diffusion, and the Logic of Terrorist Group Designation

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Mirna El Masri ◽  
Brian J. Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Policy Diffusion ◽  
Terrorist Group ◽  
Threat Perception ◽  
Group Designation

Political identity over personal impact: Early US reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert N Collins ◽  
David R. Mandel ◽  
Sarah S. Schywiola
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Distress ◽  
Strong Influence ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
Organizational Response ◽  
Threat Perception ◽  
Attitudes And Beliefs ◽  
Value Differences ◽  
Personal Impact ◽  
Large N ◽  
Weak Influence

Research suggests political identity has strong influence over individuals’ attitudes and beliefs, which in turn can affect their behavior. Likewise, firsthand experience with an issue can also affect attitudes and beliefs. A large (N = 10,362) survey (Pew Research and Ipsos W64) of Americans was analyzed to investigate the effects of both political identity and personal impact on individuals’ reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic. Results show that political identity (i.e., Democrat or Republican) and personal impact (i.e., personally affected or not) influenced different aspects of the American public’s reaction to COVID-19. Political identity exerted a strong influence on self-reports of emotional distress, threat perception, discomfort with exposure, support for restrictions, and perception of under/overreaction by individuals and institutions. Personal impact exerted a comparatively weaker influence on reported emotional distress and threat perception. Both factors had a weak influence on appraisal of individual and organizational and community responses. The dominating influence of political identity carried over into the bivariate relations among these responses. In particular, the appraisal of organizational response divided along party lines, tied to opposing views of whether there has been over- or under-reaction to the pandemic. The dominance of political identity has important implications for crisis management and reflects the influence of normative value differences between the parties, partisan messaging on the pandemic, and polarization in American politics.

Subjective Fear Dilutes as Group Size Increases

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
dean mobbs ◽  
Ellen Tedeschi ◽  
Anastasia Buyalskaya ◽  
Brian Silston
Keyword(s):  
Group Size ◽  
Real World ◽  
Survival Benefit ◽  
Group Living ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Threat Perception ◽  
Perception Of Threat ◽  
Threat Level ◽  
Internal States ◽  
Risk Dilution

According to Hamilton’s Selfish Herd Theory, a crucial survival benefit of group living is that it provides a ‘risk dilution’ function against predation. Despite a large literature on group living benefits in animals, few studies have been conducted on how group size alters subjective fear or threat perception in humans, and on what factors drive preferences for being in groups when facing threats. We conducted seven experiments (N=3,838) to test (A) if the presence of others decreases perception of threat under a variety of conditions. In studies 1 to 3, we experimentally manipulated group size in hypothetical and real-world situations, to show that fear responses decreased as group size increased. In studies 4 to 7 we again used a combination of hypothetical, virtual and real-world decisions to test (B) how internal states (e.g. anxiety) and external factors (e.g. threat level, availability of help) affected participants’ preference for groups. Participants consistently chose larger groups when threat and anxiety were high. Overall, our findings show that group size provides a salient signal of protection and safety.

The Al-Qaeda Revival in Pakistan: Challenges and Prospects

1970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farhan Zahid
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Terrorist Group ◽  
Al Qaeda ◽  
Vital Importance ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Us ◽  
Terrorist Organization ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Tribal Areas

Pakistan remains a country of vital importance for Al-Qaeda. It is primarily because of Al-Qaeda’s advent, rise and shelter and not to mention the support the terrorist organization found at the landscape of Pakistan during the last two decades. The emergence of in Pakistan can be traced back to the Afghan War (1979-89), with a brief sabbatical in Sudan the Islamist terrorist group rose to gain prominence after shifting back to Afghanistan. It then became a global ‘Islamist’ terrorist entity while based in neighboring Afghanistan and found safe havens in the erstwhile tribal areas of Pakistan in the aftermath of the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Prior to its formation in 1988 in Peshawar (Pakistan), it had worked as Maktab al-Khidmat (Services Bureau) during the Afghan War.2 It had its roots in Pakistan, which had become a transit point of extremists en route to Afghanistan during the War. All high profile Al-Qaeda leaders, later becoming high-value targets, and members of its central Shura had lived in Pakistan at one point in their lives. That is the very reason the Al-Qaeda in Pakistan is termed as Al-Qaeda Core or Central among law enforcement practitioners and intelligence communities. Without going into details of Al-Qaeda’s past in Pakistan the aim of this article is to focus on its current state of affairs and what future lies ahead of it in Pakistan.

scholarly journals How do Public Officials Learn About Policy? A Field Experiment on Policy Diffusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Miguel M. Pereira
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Policy Diffusion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Causal Link ◽  
Policy Learning ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Non Profit

Abstract Prior research suggests that partisanship can influence how legislators learn from each other. However, same-party governments are also more likely to share similar issues, ideological preferences and constituency demands. Establishing a causal link between partisanship and policy learning is difficult. In collaboration with a non-profit organization, this study isolates the role of partisanship in a real policy learning context. As part of a campaign promoting a new policy among local representatives in the United States, the study randomized whether the initiative was endorsed by co-partisans, out-partisans or both parties. The results show that representatives are systematically more interested in the same policy when it is endorsed by co-partisans. Bipartisan initiatives also attract less interest than co-partisan policies, and no more interest than out-partisan policies, even in more competitive districts. Together, the results suggest that ideological considerations cannot fully explain partisan-based learning. The study contributes to scholarship on policy diffusion, legislative signaling and interest group access.

scholarly journals Politics, Personality, and Impulsivity Can Color People’s Perceptions of—and Responses to—Hurricane Threats of Varying Severity

2020 ◽  
pp. 014616722096902
Author(s):  
Joy E. Losee ◽  
Colin Tucker Smith ◽  
Gregory D. Webster
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Sensation Seeking ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Threat Perception ◽  
Aggregated Data ◽  
Individual Traits ◽  
Threatening Situation ◽  
Social Conservatism ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
People’S Perceptions

Theory and research suggest that objective features of a threatening situation and individual differences influence threat responses. We examine three ways individual traits may relate to a threat response: (a) directly and independent of objective threat features, (b) indirectly through relationships with threat perception, or (c) as moderators of the relationship between objective threat features and responses. Using integrative data analysis (IDA), we aggregated data across three studies examining hurricane preparation intentions. Analysis supported two of the potential pathways. Supporting the first path, both openness and extraversion had direct, positive relationships with preparation likelihood. Supporting the second path, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and social conservatism positively related to preparation likelihood through a positive relationship with threat perception, whereas impulsivity and sensation-seeking negatively related to preparation likelihood through a negative relationship with threat perception. This work shows the pivotal role individual differences play regarding responses to uncertain threats.

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