Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2022-11
Has the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo fuelled resistance towards Muslim immigrants in Europe? Results from a natural experiment in six European countries
In recent years, Europe witnessed several terrorist attacks by Islamist terrorists. To date, crucial questions are whether and how such events influence the European public’s resistance towards Muslims, and if such influence depends on the level of intergroup competition, both at the contextual and individual level. Using the European Social Survey (ESS7), we were able to compare respondents interviewed shortly before and after the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo in January 2015. While we found no support for a moderating role of intergroup competition, our study shows that the levels of resistance towards Muslim immigrants were higher shortly after the attacks in Ireland and Czech Republic, however, lower in France. For Austria, Finland and Germany we found no influence. Our findings indicate that one cannot be too careful with generalizing conclusions from single countries.
AbramsDVan de VyverJHoustonDM (2017) Does terror defeat contact? Intergroup contact and prejudice toward muslims before and after the London bombings. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology23(3): 260–268.
BellAJonesK (2015) Explaining fixed effects: Random effects modeling of time-series cross-sectional and panel data. Political Science Research and Methods3(1): 133–153.
4.
BlalockHM (1967) Toward a Theory of Minority Group Relations. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
5.
BöhmeltTBoveVNussioE (2020) Can terrorism abroad influence migration attitudes at home?American Journal of Political Science64(3): 437–451.
6.
BoomgaardenHGDe VreeseCH (2007) Dramatic real-world events and public opinion dynamics: Media coverage and its impact on public reactions to an assassination. International Journal of Public Opinion Research19(3): 354–366.
7.
BoveVEfthyvoulouGPickardH (2021) Did terrorism affect voting in the brexit referendum?British Journal of Political Science: 1–18. doi:10.1017/S0007123420000927
8.
BozzoliCMüllerC (2011) Perceptions and attitudes following a terrorist shock: Evidence from the UK. European Journal of Political Economy27: S89–S106.
9.
BraithwaiteA (2013) The logic of public fear in terrorism and counter-terrorism. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology28(2): 95–101.
10.
BrouardSVasilopoulosPFoucaultM (2018) How terrorism affects political attitudes: France in the aftermath of the 2015–2016 attacks. West European Politics41(5): 1073–1099.
11.
Castanho SilvaB (2018) The (Non) Impact of the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks on political attitudes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin44(6): 838–850.
12.
CohuMMaisonneuveCTestéB (2016) The “Charlie-Hebdo” effect: Repercussions of the January 2015 terrorist attacks in France on prejudice toward immigrants and North-Africans, Social dominance orientation, and attachment to the Principle of Laïcité. International Review of Social Psychology29(1): 50–58.
13.
CoserLA (1956) The Function of Social Conflict. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
14.
CzymaraCSSchmidt-CatranAW (2017) Refugees unwelcome? Changes in the public acceptance of immigrants and refugees in Germany in the course of Europe’s ‘immigration crisis’. European Sociological Review33(6): 735–751.
15.
Echebarria-EchabeAFernández-GuedeE (2006) Effects of terrorism on attitudes and ideological orientation. European Journal of Social Psychology36: 259–265.
16.
European Social Survey Round 7 Data (2014) Data file edition 2.1. NSD - Norwegian Centre for Research Data, Norway – Data Archive and distributor of ESS data for ESS ERIC.
17.
Eurostat (2017a) Population by group of country of birth, educational attainment level and NUTS 2 region. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat (accessed 26 June 2017).
18.
Eurostat (2017b) Unemployment rates by sex, age and NUTS 2 regions (%). Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat (accessed 26 June 2017).
19.
FaheyÉMcGinnityFGrottiR (2019) Irish Attitudes to Muslim Immigrants. The Economic and Social Review50(3): 491–514.
20.
FetzerJSSoperJC (2003) The roots of public attitudes toward state accommodation of European Muslims’ religious practices before and after September 11. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion42(2): 247–258.
21.
FinseraasHListhaugO (2013) It can happen here: The impact of the Mumbai terror attacks on public opinion in Western Europe. Public Choice156(1-2): 213–228.
22.
GaltungJRugeMH (1965) The structure of foreign news:the presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus in four Norwegian newspapers. Journal of Peace Research2(1): 65–91.
23.
GonzálezKVVerkuytenMWeesieJ, et al. (2008) Prejudice toward muslims in the Netherlands: testing integrated threat theory. British Journal of Social Psychology47: 667–685.
24.
GoodwinRKaniastyKSunS, et al. (2017) Psychological distress and prejudice following terror attacks in France. Journal of Psychiatric Research91: 111–115.
25.
Grotenhuis teMScholteMDe GraafND, et al. (2015) The between and within effects of social security on church attendance in Europe 1980–1998: The danger of testing hypotheses cross-nationally.European Sociological Review31(5): 643–654.
26.
HopkinsDJ (2010) Politicized places: explaining where and when immigrants provoke local opposition. American Political Science Review104(1): 40–60.
27.
HuddyLKhatibNCapelosT (2002) Trends: reactions to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The Public Opinion Quarterly66(3): 418–450.
28.
JostJHunyadyO (2003) The psychology of system justification and the palliative function of ideology. European Review of Social Psychology13(1): 111–153.
29.
JostJTFitzsimonsGKayAC (2004) The ideological animal: A system justification view. In: GreenbergJKooleSLPyszczynskiT (eds) Handbook of Experimental Existential Psychology. New York: Guilford, pp.263–283.
30.
LarsenEGCuttsDGoodwinMJ (2020) Do terrorist attacks feed populist eurosceptics? Evidence from two comparative quasi–experiments. European Journal of Political Research59(1): 182–205.
31.
LegewieJ (2013) Terrorist events and attitudes toward immigrants: A natural experiment. American Journal of Sociology118(5): 1199–1245.
32.
MignotJF (2018) Chapitre 3. Les Lycéens Face aux Attentats de 2015. In: GallandOMuxelA (eds) La Tentation Radicale. Enquête Auprès de Lycéens (pp.153-202). Paris: PUF.
33.
MuñozJFalcó-GimenoAHernándezE (2020) Unexpected event during survey design: promise and pitfalls for causal inference. Political Analysis28(2): 186–206.
34.
NägelCLutterM (2020) The Christmas market attack in Berlin and attitudes toward refugees: A natural experiment with data from the European Social Survey. European Journal for Security Research5: 199–221.
35.
NaumannE, 2014. The Dynamics of Welfare Attitudes in Times of Welfare State Retrenchment. PhD thesis. Graduate School of Economic and Social Sciences, University of Mannheim, Germany.
36.
NussioE (2020) Attitudinal and emotional consequences of Islamist terrorism. Evidence from the Berlin attack. Political Psychology41(6): 1151–1171.
37.
NussioEBoveVSteeleB (2019) The consequences of terrorism on migration attitudes across Europe. Political Geography75: 1–10.
38.
PettigrewTFWagnerUChristO (2010) Population ratios and prejudice: Modelling both contact and threat effects. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies36(4): 635–650.
Pottie-ShermanYWilkesR (2017) Does size really matter? On the relationship between immigrant group size and anti-immigrant prejudice. International Migration Review51(1): 218–250.
41.
QuillianL (1995) Prejudice as a response to perceived group threat: population composition and anti-immigrant and racial prejudice in Europe. American Sociological Review60(4): 586–611.
42.
RuigrokNVan AtteveldtW (2007) Global angling with a local angle: how U.S., British, and Dutch newspapers frame global and local terrorist attacks. The International Journal of Press/Politics12(1): 68–90.
43.
SavelkoulMScheepersPTolsmaJ, et al. (2011) Anti-Muslim attitudes in the Netherlands: tests of contradictory hypotheses derived from ethnic competition theory and intergroup contact theory. European Sociological Review27: 741–758.
44.
ScheepersPGijsbertsMCoendersM (2002) Ethnic exclusionism in European countries. Public opposition to civil rights for legal migrants as a response to perceived ethnic threat. European Sociological Review18: 17–34.
45.
SchlueterEMassoADavidovE (2020) What factors explain anti-muslim prejudice? An assessment of the effects of muslim population size, institutional characteristics and immigration-related media claims. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies46(3): 649–664.
46.
SchüllerS (2016) The effects of 9/11 on attitudes toward immigration and the moderating role of education. Kyklos69(4): 604–632.
47.
StrabacZListhaugO (2008) Anti-Muslim prejudice in Europe: A multilevel analysis of survey data from 30 countries. Social Science Research37: 268–286.
48.
Van de VyverJHoustonDMAbramsD, et al. (2016) Boosting belligerence: how the July 7, 2005, London bombings affected Liberals’ moral foundations and prejudice. Psychological Science27(2): 169–177.
49.
Van SettenMScheepersPLubbersM (2017) Support for restrictive immigration policies in the European Union 2002–2013: The impact of economic strain and ethnic threat for vulnerable economic groups. European Societies19(4): 440–465.
50.
VasilopoulosPMarcusGEFoucaultM (2018) Emotional responses to the charlie hebdo attacks: addressing the authoritarianism puzzle. Political Psychology39(3): 557–575.
51.
WikeRGrimBJ (2010) Western views toward muslims: Evidence from a 2006 cross-national survey. International Journal of Public Opinion Research22: 4–25.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
