This paper examines the democracy-terrorism linkage that can be distinguished at different stages of democracy. We first attempt to identify the level of democracy where terrorism is peaked, and then investigate if there is a significant reduction of terror incidents as a country advances to higher levels of democracy from the peaked level of terrorism.

Using data from 124 countries covering the period 1984–2017, the study finds that the terrorism-increasing effect of democratization is peaked when a country is at the very middle level of democracy. Furthermore, there is evidence that terrorism may not be deterred as a country incrementally progresses to higher levels of democracy from the peak unless the country reaches the very highest level of democracy.

The study also presents evidence that terror attacks become more prevalent with a lower level of economic development, a larger population, or an increase in instability of governance. However, economic growth, urbanization, and globalization are not significantly related to terrorism.

本文研究了可以在民主的不同阶段区别开来的民主与恐怖主义的联系。我们首先尝试确定恐怖主义达到最高峰的民主水平，然后研究随着一个国家从恐怖主义高峰到高级民主水平，恐怖事件的发生率是否显着减少。

使用来自1984年至2017年期间124个国家的数据，研究发现，当一个国家处于民主的中层水平时，民主化对恐怖主义的增强作用达到顶峰。此外，有证据表明，除非一个国家达到最高的民主水平，否则恐怖主义就不会随着一个国家从最高峰逐步发展到更高的民主水平而受到制止。

该研究还提供了证据表明，随着经济发展水平降低，人口增加或治理不稳定增加，恐怖袭击变得更加普遍。但是，经济增长，城市化和全球化与恐怖主义无关。