Vorsina, MargaritaManning, MatthewSheppard, JillFleming, Christopher Mark2020-06-15Margarita Vorsina, Matthew Manning, Jill Sheppard & Christopher M. Fleming (2019) Social dominance orientation, fear of terrorism and support for counter-terrorism policies, Australian Journal of Political Science, 54:1, 99-113, DOI: 10.1080/10361146.2018.15529201036-1146http://hdl.handle.net/1885/205135Following September 11 and the subsequent heightened fear of terrorism from more recent events, this study examines the role of Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) in explaining individuals’ support for counter-terrorism policies that infringe individual liberties in pursuit of defending community security. Three hypotheses are proposed: (1) that SDO positively predicts support for ‘defensive’ counter-terrorism policies such as the maintenance of strong border protection; (2) that SDO positively predicts fear of terrorism and fear of Islamic extremism; (3) that the relationship between SDO and support for defensive policies is mediated by fear. The hypotheses are tested on a sample of 1200 Australian adults, with support found for each hypothesis. Counter-terrorism policies commonly encounter trade-offs between community-wide security and individual-level liberties; pursuit of optimal security tends to require infringement of those liberties. This research demonstrates that high SDO citizens will support such policies, particularly as fear increases.application/pdfen-AU© 2018 Australian Political Studies AssociationCounter terrorismsocial dominance orientationfear of terrorismIslamic extremismAustralian policy2018-12-0510.1080/10361146.2018.15529202020-04-19