Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T06:46:57.680Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Nonstate Actors and the Diffusion of Innovations: The Case of Suicide Terrorism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2010

Michael C. Horowitz
Michael C. Horowitz
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. E-mail: horom@sas.upenn.edu
Get access

Abstract

Studies of terrorism in general and suicide terrorism in particular tend to view terrorist groups independently. However, what if the propensity for a terrorist group to adopt suicide tactics depends in part on its external linkages and the relationship between the organizational capabilities required to adopt the innovation and the organizational capabilities of the group? This article shows that the organizational change requirements for adopting an innovation significantly influence the overall adoption pattern, along with interlinkages between groups. Additionally, evaluating the universe of terrorist groups, not only those groups that adopted suicide terrorism but those that did not, shows that Pape's key variable of interest, occupation, does not significantly predict the adoption of suicide terrorism. Thinking about suicide terrorism as a special case of diffusion in the military area—an innovation for nonstate groups—can help bring the study of suicide terrorism further into the mainstream and highlight how the phenomenon has not just differences, but similarities, to other innovations.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Organization , Volume 64 , Issue 1 , January 2010 , pp. 33 - 64
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Arreguín-Toft, Ivan. 2005. How the Weak Win Wars: A Theory of Asymmetric Conflict. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asal, Victor, and Rethemeyer, R. Karl. 2008. The Nature of the Beast: Organizational Structures and the Lethality of Terrorist Attacks. Journal of Politics 70 (2):437–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashworth, Scott, Clinton, Joshua D., Meirowitz, Adam, and Ramsay, Kristopher W.. 2008. Design, Inference, and the Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism. American Political Science Review 102 (2):269–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atran, Scott. 2003. Genesis of Suicide Terrorism. Science 299 (5612):1534–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bell, J. Bowyer. 1990. IRA Tactics and Targets. Dublin, Ireland: Poolbeg.Google Scholar
Benjamin, Daniel, and Simon, Steven. 2002. The Age of Sacred Terror. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Berman, Eli, and Laitin, David D.. 2005. Hard Targets: Theory and Evidence on Suicide Attacks. NBER Working Paper 11740. Cambridge, Mass: National Bureau of Economic Research.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berman, Eli, and Laitin, David D.. 2008. Religion, Terrorism and Public Goods: Testing the Club Model. Journal of Public Economics 92 (10–11):1942–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloom, Mia. 2005. Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Bloom, Mia. 2008. Metamorphosis of Suicide Bombing: From the “Far Enemy” to the “Near Enemy,” the Increasing Sectarian Nature of Terrorism in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Paper presented at the 49th Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, March, San Francisco, Calif.Google Scholar
Braumoeller, Bear F. 2004. Hypothesis Testing and Multiplicative Interaction Terms. International Organization 58 (4):807–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christensen, Clayton M. 1997. The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Collins, Eamon, and McGovern, Mick. 1997. Killing Rage. London: Granta Books.Google Scholar
Elkins, Zachary, Guzman, Andrew T., and Simmons, Beth A.. 2006. Competing for Capital: The Diffusion of Bilateral Investment Treaties, 1960–2000. International Organization 60 (4):811–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fearon, James D., and Laitin, David D.. 2003. Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War. American Political Science Review 97 (1):75–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gambetta, Diego. 2005. Can We Make Sense of Suicide Missions? In Making Sense of Suicide Missions, edited by Gambetta, Diego, 259–99. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gartner, Scott Sigmund. 1997. Strategic Assessment in War. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Gleditsch, Kristain Skrede, and Ward, Michael D.. 2006. Diffusion and the International Context of Democratization. International Organization 60 (4):911–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, Virginia. 1973. Innovation in the States: A Diffusion Study. American Political Science Review 67 (4):1174–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haas, Peter M. 1992. Introduction: Epistemic Communities and International Policy Coordination. International Organization 46 (1):1–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hassner, Ron E. 2003. To Halve and to Hold: Conflicts over Sacred Space and the Problem of Indivisibility. Security Studies 12 (4):1–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henderson, Rebecca M. 1993. Underinvestment and Incompetence as Responses to Radical Innovation: Evidence from the Photolithographic Alignment Equipment Industry. RAND Journal of Economics 24 (2):248–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heyman, Edward, and Mickolus, Edward. 1980. Observations on “Why Violence Spreads.” International Studies Quarterly 24 (2):299–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffman, Bruce. 1998. Inside Terrorism. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Hoffman, Bruce, and McCormick, Gordon H.. 2004. Terrorism, Signaling, and Suicide Attack. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 27 (4):243–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopgood, Stephen. 2005. Tamil Tigers, 1987–2002. In Making Sense of Suicide Missions, edited by Gambetta, Diego, 43–76. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horowitz, Michael. 2008. The Diffusion of Military Power: Causes and Consequences for International Politics. Unpublished book manuscript under review.Google Scholar
Iannaccone, Laurence R. 2006. The Market for Martyrs. George Mason University. Available at ⟨http://faculty.arec.umd.edu/cmcausland/RALi/The%20Market%20for%20Martyrs.pdf⟩. Accessed 7 October 2009.Google Scholar
IDF Spokesman. 2002. Documents: The Palestinian Authority Employs Fatah Activists Involved in Terrorism and Suicide Attacks. Israeli Defense Forces. Available at ⟨http://www.kokhavivpublications.com/2002/israel/04/0204231229.html⟩. Accessed 7 October 2009.Google Scholar
International Organization. 2006. Symposium: Diffusion of Liberalism. 60 (4):781–909.Google Scholar
Jackson, Brian A. 2005. Provisional Irish Republican Army. In Aptitude for Destruction. Vol. 2, Case Studies of Organizational Learning in Five Terrorist Groups, edited by Jackson, Brian A., Baker, John C., Cragin, Kim, Parachini, John, Trujillo, Horacio R., and Chalk, Peter, 93–140. Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND.Google Scholar
Jackson Wade, Sara, and Reiter, Dan. 2007. Does Democracy Matter? Regime Type and Suicide Terrorism. Journal of Conflict Resolution 51 (2):329–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, Clive. 2003. “One Size Fits All”: Israel, Intelligence, and the Al-Aqsa Intifada. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 26 (4):273–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalyvas, Stathis, and Sánchez-Cuenca, Ignacio. 2005. Killing without Dying: The Absence of Suicide Missions. In Making Sense of Suicide Missions, edited by Gambetta, Diego, 209–32. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, Gary, Tomz, Michael, and Wittenberg, Jason. 2000. Making the Most of Statistical Analyses: Improving Interpretation and Presentation. American Journal of Political Science 44 (2):341–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kramer, Martin S. 1990. The Moral Logic of Hizballah. In Origins of Terrorism: Psychologies, Ideologies, Theologies, States of Mind, edited by Reich, Walter, 131–57. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Krepinevich, Andrew F. Jr. 1986. The Army and Vietnam. Baltimore. Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krueger, Alan B., and Malečkovà, Jitka. 2003. Education, Poverty and Terrorism: Is There a Causal Connection? Journal of Economic Perspectives 17 (4):119–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, Chang Kil, and Strang, David. 2006. The International Diffusion of Public-Sector Downsizing: Network Emulation and Theory-Driven Learning. International Organization 60 (4):883–909.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lester, David, Yang, Bijou, and Lindsay, Mark. 2004. Suicide Bombers: Are Psychological Profiles Possible? Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 27 (4):283–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merari, Ariel. 1990. The Readiness to Kill and Die: Suicidal Terrorism in the Middle East. In Origins of Terrorism: Psychologies, Ideologies, Theologies, States of Mind, edited by Reich, Walter, 192–210. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Midlarsky, Manus I., Crenshaw, Martha, and Yoshida, Fumihiko. 1980. Why Violence Spreads: The Contagion of International Terrorism. International Studies Quarterly 24 (2):262–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Gregory. 2008. Innovation and Imitation Within Terrorist Groups. Paper presented at the 49th Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, March, San Francisco, Calif.Google Scholar
Moghadam, Assaf. 2006. Suicide Terrorism, Occupation, and the Globalization of Martyrdom: A Critique of Dying to Win. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 29 (8):707–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Narayan Swamy, M. R. 1994. Tigers of Lanka, from Boys to Guerrillas. New Delhi, India: Konark.Google Scholar
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. 2004. The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
North, Douglass C. 1981. Structure and Change in Economic History. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Olson, Mancur. 1982. The Rise and Decline of Nations: Economic Growth, Stagflation, and Social Rigidities. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Pape, Robert A. 2003. The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism. American Political Science Review 97 (3):343–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pape, Robert A. 2005. Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Pedahzur, Ami. 2005. Suicide Terrorism. Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
Piazza, James A. 2008. A Supply-Side View of Suicide Terrorism: A Cross-National Study. Journal of Politics 70 (1):28–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Posen, Barry R. 1984. The Sources of Military Doctrine: France, Britain, and Germany Between the World Wars. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Ricolfi, Luca. 2005. Palestinians, 1981–2003. In Making Sense of Suicide Missions, edited by Gambetta, Diego, 77–130. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, Everett M. 2003. Diffusion of Innovations. 5th ed.New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Rosen, Stephen Peter. 1991. Winning the Next War: Innovation and the Modern Military. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Sageman, Marc. 2004. Understanding Terror Networks. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmons, Beth A., Dobbins, Frank, and Garret, Geoffrey. 2006. Introduction: The International Diffusion of Liberalism. International Organization 60 (4):781–810.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmons, Beth A., and Elkins, Zachary. 2004. The Globalization of Liberalization: Policy Diffusion in the International Political Economy. American Political Science Review 98 (1):171–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Terrorism Knowledge Base. 2006. Knowledge Base Directory: Groups. Archived web page available at ⟨http://web.archive.org/web/20070813235303/www.tkb.org/Category.jsp?catID=1⟩. Accessed 7 October 2009.Google Scholar
Wilson, James Q. 1989. Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar