Increasing Political Freedom May Be Key to Reducing Threats

publishes Country Reports on Terrorism, which highlights current strategies, outcomes and casualties from U.S. counterterrorism efforts. The 2008 report highlights the growing trend in terrorist attacks abroad, including the September attack against the U.S. Embassy in Yemen that killed 18 people. The continued incidence of terrorism prompts us to consider its root causes. It is popular to single out poverty or lack of education as major factors.1 Recent economic literature, however, points more toward civil liberties, political rights and the rule of law as far greater factors.