ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to fill in part the vacuum in the research on international interdependencies by analyzing the interaction that can occur in destabilized situations between violence and the transnational flow of information. It shows that the transnational flow of information can affect significantly a crisis or an event in an open, ethnically divided society and, more specifically, that external information may be a catalyst to the outbreak and development of terrorism in tense situations. Little news is released about a terrorist attack in Israel until the event is over. The significance of transnational factors to any one situation differs according to the accessibility, vulnerability, and sensitivity of one society to another. The transnational flow of information can be a catalyst in destabilized, and especially ethnically divided, situations. The catalytic role of transnational factors stems from the interdependent nature of the international system, the easy penetration of most states, and the global range of modern communications.
