Occidentalism, terrorism, and the Shari’a state: new multivariate perspectives on Islamism based on international survey data

Our article attempts to be yet another empirical contribution to the evolving international debate about global Islamist terrorism. We rely on the analysis of PEW and World Values Survey data from Muslim publics in different countries around the globe to analyze by multivariate promax factor analysis and standard OLS multiple regressions which factors contributed to the approval or the rejection of terrorist acts, measured by such variables as the opinion on suicide bombing, the strict application of Shari’a law and the favorability of terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah. We also analyze the drivers of general opinions on Islamic extremist groups and reactions to the ambitions of Iran and its nuclear program. We also present cross-national country data evidence to support our conclusions