URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Spring_2018_Melissa-McCarthy

Hutchison sought to further explore the relationship between persistent terrorism and political tolerance, to try to find the point where terrorism might cause a democracy to backslide toward an authoritarian government. Before Hutchison’s work, there had been little research examining the effects of persistent terrorism on democratic attitudes and behavior. Instead this research focused on the impact of a single large attack, like September 11. Hutchison and his colleagues from the University of Kentucky and Tel Aviv University, turned their attention to Israel to study this relationship of persistent terrorism and political tolerance.

Hutchison’s research in 2014, on the effects of terrorism and other forms of civil conflict on domestic political tolerance, studied data from the 1995 through 1997 World Values Survey. Hutchison concluded that civil conflict reduces the public’s willingness to extend basic political rights to non-conformist groups throughout society. Hutchison’s study illustrates one of the dangers terrorism poses to society by chipping away at foundational democratic values and norms. “Political tolerance is the application of our civil liberties, even for people that we don’t like,” he says. “That’s at the fundamental basis of democracy.”

Spring | 2018 Page 43