Anonymous Attackers: The Logic and Strategy of Credit-Taking in Terrorism

• In Event: Modern Terrorism

Abstract

Acts of terrorism left unclaimed have puzzled scholars in the study of terrorism and counterterrorism policymakers alike. The very idea to commit an act of terrorism, but not take credit for it runs contrary to the conventional wisdom of credit-taking and political communication in terrorism. If such a costly form of ‘signalling’ is authorized by a group, how do so many attacks go unclaimed? This paper relaxes the assumptions of the unitary actor model and drives an argument about the role of low-level members of existing terrorist organizations in affecting unclaimed terrorist attacks. Using data on unclaimed attacks as well as group-level characteristics on terrorist groups in the Middle East and North Africa between 1980 and 2004, it finds that both the level of hierarchy (and control) and years of experience within existing groups can influence the number of unclaimed attacks we observe.

Author

• Mostafa El Sharkawy, University of Michigan