Rallying Around the Flag? Political Parties' Reactions to Terrorist Acts.

This paper analyzes the reaction of mainstream political elites to acts of terrorism and quantitatively assesses whether opposition parties will rally around the flag, much like they do in the midst of military or diplomatic crises. A statistical analysis, conducted on 181 terrorist events in five countries (France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States) over the period 1990 to 2006, indicates that rallies around the flag are the rule. Overall, the results show that the repetition of acts of terror is a strong factor affecting political parties' responses to terrorist acts, as repeated attacks are more likely to prompt criticism. The magnitude of the act (i.e. number of fatalities) is also associated with a rallying effect as larger attacks are more likely to result in a unified front across parties. Country specific analyses indicate that Spain has the lowest rallying rate amongst the countries studied whereas the United Kingdom has the highest. Finally, this study suggests that massive rallies around the flag following acts of terror were relatively rare in the U.S. prior to 9/11. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]