Replication Data for "Leader Nationalism, Ethnic Identity, and Terrorist Violence"

Whether or not nationalism fuels terrorist violence by ethnic groups is an important yet underexplored research question. This study offers a theoretical argument, empirical analysis, and a case study. When political leaders such as presidents and prime ministers use nationalism to shore up legitimacy, they threaten the existence of disfavored ethnic groups. In turn, those groups are more likely to respond with terrorist attacks. I test this argument with a sample of 766 ethnic groups across 163 countries from 1970 to 2009. Multilevel mixed-effects negative binomial regression results show evidence that leader nationalism is a significant driver of ethnic terrorism. When I account for possible reverse causality with a generalized method of moments method, the detrimental effect of nationalism remains the same. A case study of Sinhalese nationalist leaders versus Tamil Tigers also supports the nationalism and terrorism nexus.