Thinking out on the perspective you may be interested in, I assume that you are looking for the possible variables to deal with your study.

In this regard, I would pose some questions to the object, to identify them.

So, even if national security may be affected, conditioners may be within the national structure and beyond.

Local conditioners, national conditioners and international conditioners may be a way to initiate. Inside them, the political system of representation; the level of violence in relation to religious extremism, the historical and ethnical paths, the level of control of the government structures, networks and extremist groups presence/activities, etc.

Over the years, the nature of National Security policies has considerably transformed. Many, especially in the West, have long argued against state religious establishments on the ethical grounds of the rights of freedom of conscience and personal autonomy. Situating the question of religious establishment within Religion and Security—an essential and growing aspect of the Religious Studies discipline—allows for new interpretive possibilities. However, the West's religious disestablishment has harmed the state's capacity to deal effectively with violent religious extremism. Moreover, as much as terrorism imposes fear, the fight against terrorism promotes violence.

Being careful to separate out correlation and causation what I think you may need to do is look at a basket of socio-economic indicators (numbers over time) across a series of countries and geographical regions and examine rule of law and levels of violence (state and nonstate). So, for example, variation in average income across a population, percentage of population in poverty, infant mortality rates and security related issues all within the same geography and timeframes. In this way you might be able to demonstrate clear linkages and be able to determine which of these socio-economic parameters are most highly correlated with actual and perceived security issues. However determining than any one is a main cause is unlikely. Almost certainly lack of security increases infant mortality, while infant mortality rate is linked to population growth, personal insecurity, fear and potentially to state instability.