Abstract
Scholars have traditionally argued that Islamist terrorist groups tend to commit higher casualty attacks. Noting that casualty rates of attacks vary widely across Islamist terrorist groups, this study advances an alternative hypothesis that group organizational features and goal structures better explain differing casualty rates than does the overarching ideological type. Using both cross-national analysis and a case study of post-invasion Iraq, I demonstrate that there are two basic types of Islamist terrorist groups whose organizational and goal-structure features explain divergent casualty rates: strategic groups that function similarly to secular national-liberation and regime-change movements and abstract/universal groups that are affiliated with the global al-Qaeda network.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 62-88 |
| Number of pages | 27 |
| Journal | Terrorism and Political Violence |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 2009 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality
- Sociology and Political Science
- Safety Research
- Political Science and International Relations
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In: Terrorism and Political Violence, Vol. 21, No. 1, 01.2009, p. 62-88.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - Is Islamist terrorism more dangerous?
T2 - An empirical study of group ideology, organization, and goal structure
AU - Piazza, James A.
N1 - Funding Information: al-Mujahideen, Jeay Sindh, Jenin Martyrs Brigade, Jihad Brigades, Jihad Pegah, Kanglei Yawol Kana Lup, Kangleipak Communist Party, Karbala Brigades, Karbi Longri Resistance, Karenni National Progressive Party, Kata’ib al-Junayd al-Jihadiya, Kayin National Army, Knights of the Tempest, Kosovo Liberation Army, Kuki Liberation Army, Kuki Revolutionary Army, Kurdish Democratic Party, Kurdistan Freedom Hawks, Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Lashkar e-Jhangvi, Lashkar i-Omar, Lashkar e-Toiba, Liberation Party, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Macheteros, Mahdi Army, Martyr Abu-Ali Mustafa, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Moro National Liberation Front, Movsar Baryayev Gang, Muadh Ibn Jabal Brigade, Mujahadi Bayt al-Maqdis, Mujahideen al-Mansooran, Mujahideen Army, National Democratic Front of Bodoland, National Kurdish Revenge Teams, National Liberation Front of Tripura, New Pattani United Liberation Organization, Ninawa Mujahideen in the city of Mosul, Omar bin al-Khattab, Oromo Liberation Front, Padanian Armed Separatists, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Partisans of the Sunni, Pattani United Liberation Organization, People’s Defense Forces, PKK/KONGRA-GEL, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Popular Resistance Council, Protectors of Islam, Rappani Khalilov, Rasul Makacharipov, Real Irish Republican Army, Resistenza Corsa, Revenge of the Hebrew Babies, Riyad us-Saliheyn Martyr’s Brigade, Saad Bin Abi Waqas Brigade, Salah al-Din Battalion, Saraya al-Shuada al-Jihadiya fil Iraq, Saraya Usud al-Tawhid, Sardinian Autonomy Movement, Save Kashmir Movement, Shurafa al-Urdun, South Maluku Republic, Sri Nakharo, Sword of Islam, Swords of Righteousness, Takfir wa Hijra, Tanzim, Tawhid and Jihad, The Group for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, The Holders of the Banner, Tibetan Independence Movement, United Kuki Liberation Front, United Liberation Front of Assam, United National Liberation Front, Usd Allah, Uygur Holy War Organization, Young Liberators of Pattani, Yunadi Turchayev, Zomi Revolutionary Army. Funding Information: Muhjahideen, Brigades of the Victorious, Catholic Reaction Force, Clandestini Corsi, Continuity IRA, Corsican Patriotic Front, Corsican Revolutionary Armed Forces, Cypriot Nationalist Organization, Dagestan Liberation Army, Death Squad of Mujahideen of Iraq, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, Dima Halam Daoga, Divine Wrath Brigade, Doku Umarov, East Turkistan Liberation Front, Fallujah Mujahideen, Free Aceh Movement, Free Papua Movement, Free Vietnam Revolutionary Group, Front di Liberazione, Gazteriak, Gora Euskadi Askatat, Green Brigade of the Prophet, Hamas, Harakat Ul-Mujahidin, Harkat ul-Jehad, Hawk Brigades, Hawks of Thrace, Hezbollah, Hizbul Mujahideen, Imam Hussein Brigade, Independent Kashmir, Indigenous Peoples Front, Iparretarrek, Iraqi Legitimate Resistance, Irish National Liberation Army, Irish Republican Army, Islamic al-Waqqas Brigade, Islamic Army in Iraq, Islamic Jihad, Islamic Movement of Iraq, Islamic Rage Brigade, Islamic Resistance Brigade, Israeli Arab Islamic Movement, Jaish al-Taifa al-Mansoura, Jaish e-Muhammad, Jamiat al-Mujahideen , Jeay Sindh, Jenin Martyrs Brigade, Jihad Brigades, Jihad Pegah, Kanglei Yawol Kana Lup, Kangleipak Communist Party, Karbala Brigades, Karbi Longri Resistance, Karenni National Progressive Party, Kata’ib al-Junayd al-Jihadiya, Kayin National Army, Knights of the Tempest, Kosovo Liberation Army, Kuki Liberation Army, Kuki Revolutionary Army, Kurdish Democratic Party, Kurdistan Freedom Hawks, Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Lashkar e-Jhangvi, Lashkar i-Omar, Lashkar e-Toiba, Liberation Party, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Macheteros, Mahdi Army, Martyr Abu-Ali Mustafa, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Moro National Liberation Front, Movsar Baryayev Gang, Muadh Ibn Jabal Brigade, Mujahadi Bayt al-Maqdis, Mujahideen al-Mansooran, Mujahideen Army, National Democratic Front of Bodoland, National Kurdish Revenge Teams, National Liberation Front of Tripura, New Pattani United Liberation Organization, Ninawa Mujahideen in the city of Mosul, Omar bin al-Khattab, Oromo Liberation Front, Padanian Armed Separatists, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Partisans of the Sunni, Pattani United Liberation Organization, People’s Defense Forces, PKK/KONGRA-GEL, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Popular Resistance Council, Protectors of Islam, Rappani Khalilov, Rasul Makacharipov, Real Irish Republican Army, Resistenza Corsa, Revenge of the Hebrew Babies, Riyad us-Saliheyn Martyr’s Brigade, Saad Bin Abi Waqas Brigade, Salah al-Din Battalion, Saraya al-Shuada al-Jihadiya fil Iraq, Saraya Usud al-Tawhid, Sardinian Autonomy Movement, Save Kashmir Movement, Shurafa al-Urdun, South Maluku Republic, Sri Nakharo, Sword of Islam, Swords of Righteousness, Takfir wa Hijra, Tanzim, Tawhid and Jihad, The Group for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, The Holders of the Banner, Tibetan Independence Movement, United Kuki Liberation Front, United Liberation Front of Assam, United National Liberation Front, Usd Allah, Uygur Holy War Organization, Young Liberators of Pattani, Yunadi Turchayev, Zomi Revolutionary Army, 15 May, 21 June Organization, 313, Abu Sayyaf Group, Action Directe, Action Group Extreme, Ahmadia Muslim Mission, Abdulrajak Janjalani Brigade, Akhil Krantikari, al-Haramayn Brigades, al-Qanoon, al Nawaz, Alex Boncayao Brigade, Amal, Ansar al-Sunna Army, Anti-Communist Command, April 19th Movement, Armed Forces Revolutionary Command, Armed Islamic Group, Armed Revolutionary Left, Armed Youth of Cherikha-ye Fedayee, Army of the People of Venezuela, Asbat al-Ansar, Asif Raza Commandos, Babbar Khalsa International, Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Bolivarian Guerilla Movement, Bolivarian Liberation Forces, Cambodian Freedom Fighters, Carapaica Revolutionary Movement, Chukakuha, Comando Jaramillista, Committee for the Security of the Highways, Communist Party of India-Maoist, Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, Communist Workers Movement, Dario Santillan Command, DHKP-C, Ecuadorian Rebel Force, Eritrea Islamic Jihad, Ethnocacerista, First of October Antifascist Resistance Group, Free People of Galilee, Front for Defenders of Islam, Front for the Liberation of the Cabinda Enclave, FUAC, Gama’a Islamiya, God’s Army, Group of Guerilla Combatants of Jose Maria Morales, Group of Peoples Fighters, Group of Popular Combatants, Guevarista Revolutionary Army, Harakat al-Shua’ada al-Islamiya, Hezbollah, Hikmatul Zihad, Hindu National Union, Hisba, Hizb-I-Islami, Iduwini Youths, Indian Intelligence, Islami Chhatra Shibi, Islamic Defense Forces, Islamic Glory Brigades, Islamic Great Eastern Raiders Front, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Islamic Shashantantra Andolon, Jagrata Muslim Janata, Jaime Bateman Cayon Group, Jaish al-Muslimeen, Jamatul Mujahideen, Janashakti, Jihad Committee, Justice Army of Defenseless People, Kach, Kakurokyo, Kenkoko Giyugun Chos, Kurdish Democratic Party, Latin American Patriotic Army, Lord’s Resistance Army, Loyalist Volunteer Force, Macedonian Dawn, Maoist Communist Center, Mara Salvatruchas, Mariano Moreno National Liberation Commandos, Military Wing of the Greater Syrian Army, Mohajir Qami Movement, Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad, Movement for the Struggle of the Jordanian Islamic Resistance, Movement of the Fifth Republic, Movement of the Revolutionary Left, Mujahedin-e-Khalq, Mujahideen Division Khandaq, Mujahideen KOMPAK, Mujahideen Message, Muttahida Qami Movement, National Armed Forces, National Army for the Liberation of Uganda, National Liberation Army, National Warriors, New People’s Army, Night Avengers, November’s Children, Nusantara Islamic Jihad Forces, Odua Peoples’ Congress, Orange Volunteers, Parbatya Chattagram, People’s Liberation Army, People’s National Congress, People’s Revolutionary Army, People’s United Liberation Front, People’s War Group, People Against Gangsterism, Popular Liberation Army, Popular Revolutionary Action, Popular Self-Defense Forces, Protesting Miners, Pueblo Reagrupado, Purbo Banglar Communist Party, Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan, Red Guerrillas, Red Hand Defenders, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Revolutionary Subversives, Revolutionary TorchBearing Run, Revolutionary United Front, Revolutionary Youth of Ecuador, Russian National Bolshevist Party, Russian National Union, Saif ul-Muslimeen, Salafist Group for Call and Defense, Self Defense Groups, Shining Path, South Londonderry Volunteers, Students of the Islamic Movement of India, Sudan Peoples Liberation Army, Taliban, The Inevitables, The National Anti-Corruption Front, Tigers, Tippagarh Dalam, TKEP/L, TKP/ML-TIKKO, Tupac Amaru, Tupamaro Revolutionary Movement, Turkish Peoples Liberation Front, Ulster Defence Association, Ulster Volunteer Force, Underground Government for the Free Democratic People of Laos, UNITA, United People’s Democratic Solidarity, United Revolutionary Front, United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, United Self-Defense Forces of Venezuela, United Tajik Opposition, Vigorous Burmese Students, White Legion.
PY - 2009/1
Y1 - 2009/1
N2 - Scholars have traditionally argued that Islamist terrorist groups tend to commit higher casualty attacks. Noting that casualty rates of attacks vary widely across Islamist terrorist groups, this study advances an alternative hypothesis that group organizational features and goal structures better explain differing casualty rates than does the overarching ideological type. Using both cross-national analysis and a case study of post-invasion Iraq, I demonstrate that there are two basic types of Islamist terrorist groups whose organizational and goal-structure features explain divergent casualty rates: strategic groups that function similarly to secular national-liberation and regime-change movements and abstract/universal groups that are affiliated with the global al-Qaeda network.
AB - Scholars have traditionally argued that Islamist terrorist groups tend to commit higher casualty attacks. Noting that casualty rates of attacks vary widely across Islamist terrorist groups, this study advances an alternative hypothesis that group organizational features and goal structures better explain differing casualty rates than does the overarching ideological type. Using both cross-national analysis and a case study of post-invasion Iraq, I demonstrate that there are two basic types of Islamist terrorist groups whose organizational and goal-structure features explain divergent casualty rates: strategic groups that function similarly to secular national-liberation and regime-change movements and abstract/universal groups that are affiliated with the global al-Qaeda network.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=61449226545&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=61449226545&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/09546550802544698
DO - 10.1080/09546550802544698
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:61449226545
SN - 0954-6553
VL - 21
SP - 62
EP - 88
JO - Terrorism and Political Violence
JF - Terrorism and Political Violence
IS - 1
ER -