From Words to Action: Exploring the Relationship Between a Group's Value References and Its Likelihood of Engaging in Terrorism

• NCJ Number: 207733
• Journal: Studies in Conflict & Terrorism Volume: 27 Issue: 5 Dated: September-October 2004 Pages: 409-437
• Author(s): Allison G. Smith
• Editor(s): Bruce Hoffman
• Date Published: September 2004
• Length: 29 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: An earlier version of this article was presented at the ISPP 26th Annual Scientific Meeting held in Boston, MA, July 6-9, 2003.

Annotation

This study explored the dynamics of terrorism through a content analysis of terrorist and nonterrorist groups’ documents.

Abstract

For the purposes of choosing the cases used in this study, the author focused on three characteristics of terrorism on which there is fairly broad consensus: 1) terrorism is an act intended to create terror; 2) terrorism plays to an audience beyond its victims; and 3) groups engage in terrorism in order to further another end. Using these criteria, 13 groups that engaged in terrorism in specific contexts and periods were identified and matched with 13 nonterrorist control groups that were active in the same contexts and periods. A brief discussion is presented on applying values typically attributed to individuals to groups. This study hypothesized that the values groups used to describe themselves would be of particular importance in understanding and predicting terrorist activity. In addition, the study explored whether the justice and culture values attributed to both opponents and the group helped distinguish groups that engaged in terrorism from groups that did not. A brief discussion of the 13 terrorist/nonterrorist groups is presented. The study included documents of the groups examined that represented the goals and values of the groups. The documents were coded using four sets of values: dominance values, morality values, justice values, and culture values. Analysis of the documents found that, relative to nonterrorist groups, terrorist groups attributed higher dominance values to their opponents and higher dominance, morality, and culture values to themselves in the full sample and in a predictive sample of documents issued before engaging in terrorism. These findings indicate that the values groups express in their documents, and particularly the values they attribute to themselves, may predict whether they engage in terrorism. Study limitations are discussed. References, tables