The Strategies of Terrorism

Abstract

Terrorism is designed to change minds by destroying bodies; it is a form of costly signaling. Terrorists employ five primary strategies of costly signaling: attrition, intimidation, provocation, spoiling, and outbidding. The main targets of persuasion are the enemy and the population that the terrorists hope to represent or control. Terrorists wish to signal that they have the strength and will to impose costs on those who oppose them, and that the enemy and moderate groups on the terrorists' side cannot be trusted and should not be supported. Each strategy works well under certain conditions and poorly under others. State responses to one strategy may be inappropriate for other strategies. In some cases, however, terrorists are pursuing a combination of strategies, and the response must also work well against this combination.

Discussing Concepts of Terrorist Rationality: Implications for Counterterrorism Policy

“…Yet, this number has been denoted as being highly exaggerated and only resulting from a biased case selection (Moghadam, 2006: 713). Kydd and Walter (2006) argue in line with Pape and try to demonstrate that terrorism indeed works. Analyzing a number of case studies they find similar results to those of Pape and take it as supportive evidence for the rationality of terrorists (Kydd and Walter, 2006: 49).…”

Fratricidal Rebels: Ideological Extremity and Warring Factionalism in Civil Wars

“…17 Rebel factions compete with each other by making the case that they alone can deliver the public goods desired by the rebel movement and its supporters. Outbidding among rival groups can work in two ways.…”

Spatial spill-overs from terrorism on tourism: Western victims in Islamic destination countries

“…Therefore, terrorist groups are unlikely to reach their ultimate goals in the short run. In the absence of realistic chances of achieving their long-term goals of gaining political power and control over a territory in the short run, terrorist groups strive for achieving strategic goals (Kydd and Walter 2006;Enders and Sandler 2006;Neumayer and Plümper 2011;Plümper and Neumayer 2010a Arguably, terrorist groups achieve greater influence on peers, supporters and potential recruits when they attack 'hard targets', as this demonstrates the capability of the terror group to overcome seemingly stringent security measures. Soft targets, such as tourist hotels or major sites that tourists visit, can be attacked without much preparation; an automatic gun or a bomb and a terrorist willing to commit suicide or to get arrested will usually do.…”