His widely translated book Why Men Rebel (1970)[1] emphasized the importance of social psychological factors (relative deprivation) and ideology as root sources of political violence.
[3] In 1968 Gurr was asked to join the staff of the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, established by President Lyndon B. Johnson after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy.
The MAR project, which is continued by a research team at the University of Maryland's Center for International Development and Conflict Management (CIDCM),[3] provides data for his and others’ analyses of the causes and management of ethnopolitical protest and rebellion, most recently in Peoples versus States: Minorities at Risk in the New Century[5] and Ethnic Conflict in World Politics, coauthored with Barbara Harff.
His recent projects included periodic assessments of risks of genocide and politicide, with Barbara Harff, and a comparative study of "unholy alliances" between terrorists and international criminal networks, with Lyubov Mincheva of the University of Sofia.
[7] He and Monty G. Marshall established this biennial report series in 2001 to provide scholars, analysts and journalists with current information on global conflict trends and risks of future instability.