Nervos belli or economic resources as determinants of terrorist activity: the case of ETA (1967–2010)

Abstract

The article studies empirically the relationship of a set of resources—among which we highlight, for its novelty the financial ones—, as determinants of the number and intensity of attacks carried out by terrorist groups, through the analysis of the Basque terrorist group ETA, from 1967 up to its dissolution in 2010. For this purpose, a series of the resources available to this terrorist organization is compiled (economic resources of ETA, the number of active ETA militants, etc.) which are then related econometrically to various indicators referring to the results of its armed activity (number and types of attacks carried out by ETA, the number of victims derived from them, and the number of terrorist casualties in armed actions, etc.). Our results prove that Cicero’s dictum of “money being the nerve of war” holds also true in the case of terrorism.