By examining Africa, where terrorism is pervasive and democratic reforms are yet unfinished, the research at hand touches upon an under-researched field. The researchers use an unexpected event-during-survey (UESD) methodology with an entropy balancing strategy to assess causal effects using Afrobarometer survey data linked with terrorist occurrences. We discover that support for democracy is continuously weakened by terrorism. Attitude changes are especially likely to affect younger and elderly citizens. These results demonstrate how terrorism’s political impact depends on broader structural vulnerabilities influenced by institutions, development, and demography in addition to exposure.
