Applying General Strain Theory to U.S. Counterterrorism: Tactics of Elimination or Tactics of Creation?

• In Event: Macro-level Studies of Strain and Crime

Abstract

Proponents of the lethal drone program argue that Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) strikes are the most surgically-precise, effective, and humane method of war ever known in history. Others raise questions about its effectiveness: do drone strikes eliminate, or do they create, terrorists? Do drone strikes act as an ‘effective recruitment tool’ just as President Obama lamented regarding GTMO?
This research project begins to answer these questions through a qualitative analysis of propaganda materials released by Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The research project uses Robert Agnew’s General Strain Theory (GST) as a theoretical framework and conceptualizes targeted killings as a ‘collective strain’ that may increase the likelihood of terrorism. The project analyzes the evolution of propaganda messages and themes since the onset of lethal UAV strikes, and in doing so, illustrates the ways in which the two are in an interactive, polemical relationship.

Author

• Andrew Roesch-Knapp, University of California, Irvine