Premium
The Effect of Terror on Institutional Trust: New Evidence from the 3/11 M adrid Terrorist Attack
Author(s) -
Dinesen Peter Thisted,
Jæger Mads Meier
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
political psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.419
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1467-9221
pISSN - 0162-895X
DOI - 10.1111/pops.12025
Subject(s) - terrorism , politics , economic justice , political science , criminology , social psychology , psychology , law
Research from the U nited S tates suggests that the 9/11 terrorist attack increased trust in political institutions by creating a “rally effect.” In this research note we analyze E urobarometer data collected immediately before and after the M arch 11, 2004 terrorist attack in M adrid to replicate and extend previous findings from the U nited S tates. We report that, first, trust in different types of institutions (political, media, justice) increased significantly immediately after the M adrid terrorist attack; second, the effect of the attack varied systematically across different types of institutions; and, third, the effect was generally short‐lived. Our results suggest that the rally effect of terror on trust in institutions generalizes across national contexts but also that the effect differs across types of institutions.