Re-thinking foreign aid in the fight against terrorism

One of the questions that fascinated policymakers and academics following the terrorist attacks in the USA on September 11 2001 was whether foreign aid could be used to stop terrorism ( see for instance Azam and Thelen, 2010; Sharma, Davis and Findley, (2009); Savun and Hays (2011). For those who believe it can, often the ideological or philosophical basis of their position was a certain belief that the frustrations of supposedly unhappy people in poor countries predispose them to terrorism. This in turn led to conclusions by some Americans that increasing the country's "wavering commitment to foreign aid" could at least be part of the solution (Graham, 2012).