Stable and Unstable Dictators: Examining the Effects of Authoritarian Regime Classifications on Domestic Terrorism, 1972-2008

This thesis examined four authoritarian regime types and their relationship with domestic terrorism. It is argued that military authoritarian regimes are more likely to experience civil strife than other forms of authoritarian regimes. In addition, this thesis challenges the notion that multi-party authoritarian regimes and civil strife are positively correlated. This study also demonstrates the relationship between regime type and domestic terrorism when controlling for when the country is experiencing civil war. To conduct this research, I used data from the Global Terrorism Database, Correlates of War, and Hadenius and Teorell\u27s Authoritarian Regime Types Revisited . The results demonstrate that military and one-party regimes are more likely to experience domestic terrorism when engaged in a civil war, and found that the level of development when interacted with the regime variables was also a significant indicator of domestic terrorism. Therefore, the type of authoritarian regime does play a role in the likelihood of experiencing domestic terrorism when interacted with other variables