This paper looks to discover why some countries experience more domestic terrorist attacks than others. It explores whether nationality law type is a determinant. Ethnic and religious fractionalization, regime type, GDP per capita and population have been previously identified as determinants and are used as controls. This paper hypothesizes that countries that practice jus soli nationality laws will experience fewer terrorist attacks. The evidence that nationality laws affect the frequency of domestic terrorism is inconclusive. In some of the regression models, the relationship of jus soli laws was negative, which met the expectation of the hypothesis. At other times, it was positive. Additionally, India was observed longitudinally due to their change in citizenship laws in 1987. These data supported the hypothesis overwhelmingly; during jus soli years, 226 fewer attacks were observed. While this is supportive of the hypothesis, more research is needed to substantiate the claim that citizenship laws drive the incidence of terrorist attacks.
