The Forest for the Trees: How does the Terrorist Activity of Perpetrator Organizations Relate to that of Broader Movements?

• In Event: Terrorism as a Tactic

Abstract

Early research examining the dynamics of terrorist organizations and movements around the world has identified interesting patterns that have important implications for terrorism-related research, theory development, and policy. For example, while individual terrorist organizations typically exist for less than one year, the majority of broader movements they comprise exist for more than ten years. Here I use data on terrorist attacks from the Global Terrorism Database to examine more closely the patterns of activity among movements and their constituent groups around the world over more than 40 years. This analysis investigates how terrorist organizations begin and end within the context of broader movements, what happens when they merge together or splinter apart, and what impact the ecology of terrorist organizations and movements has on the frequency and lethality of terrorist attacks.

Author

• Erin Miller, University of Maryland