Blame Thy Neighbor: Terrorist Attacks and Anti-Refugee Sentiment

Abstract

We scrutinize how terrorist attacks influence public attitudes toward refugees, focusing on the complex interplay between such events and societal perceptions in host countries. Analyzing a large dataset of about 1 million Turkish language tweets and conducting a survey experiment, we find a significant rise in anti-refugee sentiment following attacks. Notably, those who support the government and are initially less prejudiced against refugees exhibit the most substantial change in attitude. This shift is not driven by dissatisfaction with government policies but by a dormant tendency to blame refugees, which emerges in the wake of terrorism. The findings emphasize the need to understand the nuanced effects of security-related events on refugee perceptions.