The softest of targets: A study on terrorist target selection

Victor H. Asal; R. Karl Rethemeyer; Ian Anderson; Allyson Stein; Jeffrey Rizzo; Matthew Rozea

doi:10.1080/19361610902929990

The softest of targets: A study on terrorist target selection

Victor H. Asal
, R. Karl Rethemeyer
, Ian Anderson
, Allyson Stein
, Jeffrey Rizzo
, Matthew Rozea

Political Science

University at Albany

SUNY Albany
Albany Law School

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

88 Scopus citations

Abstract

What factors may lead a terrorist organization to attack undefended and unaware civilians-or as we style them, "soft targets"? We examine two distinct processes in choosing to attack soft targets: the one-time decision to begin attacking soft targets and the continued use of violence against such targets. Our analysis points to ideology-specifically religion-as the decisive factor in turning to target civilians, while organizational factors such as group size and network centrality are related to the number of incidents perpetrated.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	258-278
Number of pages	21
Journal	Journal of Applied Security Research
Volume	4
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/19361610902929990
State	Published - Jul 2009

Keywords

Ideology
Quantitative modeling
Social networks
Targeting
Terrorism

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10.1080/19361610902929990

Cite this

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AU - Rozea, Matthew

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KW - Social networks

KW - Targeting

KW - Terrorism

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The softest of targets: A study on terrorist target selection

Abstract

Keywords

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