A key tenet of U.S. foreign policy has been that promoting democracy reduces terrorism; however, scant empirical evidence links democracy to terrorism, positively or negatively. This study explores the relationship between the two by examining the effects of liberalization processes on political violence in six Arab cases.

Preface -- Figures -- Table -- Summary -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- "Democracy" and terrorism in the Arab world: a framework for analysis -- Introduction -- Democracy in the Middle East: "liberalized autocracies" or genuine democratization? -- Understanding terrorism -- The democracy-terrorism debate -- Post 9/11 "draining the swamp" logic -- The democracy backlash -- Democracy-terrorism hypotheses -- Empirical application to the Arab world: case selection and methods -- Egypt -- Introduction -- Liberalization in the Mubarak era -- Trends in violent acitivity -- Comparing levels of freedom and terrorism -- Assessing effects -- Repression and destabilization -- Conclusion -- Jordan -- Liberalization trends -- Trends in voilent acitivity -- Comparing levels of freedom and terrorism -- Assessing effects -- Normative effects -- Institutional effects -- Legitimacy -- Conclusion -- Bahrain -- Introduction -- Liberalization trends -- Trends in violent activity -- Comparing levels of freedom and terrorism -- Assessing effects -- Perceptions of regime legitimacy -- Norms of tolerance and pluralism -- Institutional logic -- Conclusions and implications -- Saudi Arabia -- Introduction -- Liberalization trends -- Trends in violent activity -- Comparing levels of freedom and terrorism -- Assessing effects -- Regime legitimacy -- Normative and institutional effects: the municipal council elections -- Conclusion -- Algeria -- Trends in liberalization -- Trends in violent activity -- Comparing levels of freedom and terrorism -- Assessing effects -- Institutional effects -- Normative effects -- The effects of state actions on perceptions of regime legitimacy -- Summary and implications -- Morocco -- Introduction -- Trends in liberalization -- Trends in violent activity -- Comparing levels of freedom and terrorism -- Assessing effects -- Institutional effects -- Normative effects -- Legitimacy -- Conclusion -- Conclusion -- Liberalization in the Arab world can both contain and exacerbate political violence -- Policy implications: a return to realism or realistic democracy promotion? -- Policy recommendations -- Bibliography.