Does Poverty Fuel Terrorism?

Abstract

Combating terrorism has become virtually the top most agenda of the international community as a whole and for any government in Pakistan as particular. This is not only because that eradicating terrorism is a part of international war on terror but also for an aim to overcome greater sense of insecurity and fear amongst the people of Pakistan for their uninterrupted, safe and secure social inter and intra-city movements. Academically speaking, it remains a matter of great concern that which of the social, political and global forces/factors affect and attract general masses and citizens to join hands of the terrorist organizations. There is a popular notion that poverty is a root cause of terrorist violence. Though this argument is propagated conversely by various scholars, many social scientists still connect poverty with terrorism quite staunchly. This paper investigates the ways in which terrorism is linked to poverty.