| ID | 186329 |
| Title Proper | Impact of Ideological Ambiguity on Terrorist Organizations |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Susan Olzak |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | Organizations that have a clear and unambiguous focus acquire greater legitimacy, which raises their capacity for mobilization. Using data on terrorist organizations, this paper explores two empirical implications of this claim: A terrorist organization’s survival and lethality will be threatened to the extent that it has an ambiguous ideological identity. Analyses using panel data from the Extended Data on Terrorist Groups (EDTG) test these arguments for 474 global terrorist organizations observed over 1970–2016. The key empirical predictions are that ambiguity inhibits lethality and curtails survival. This paper finds support for these claims, controlling for competition from rivals and allies, ethno-nationalist or Islamic ideological orientation, and a variety of other measures of organizational capacity. |
| `In' analytical Note | Journal of Conflict Resolution Vol. 66, No.4-5; May 2022: p.836-866 |
| Journal Source | Journal of Conflict Resolution Vol: 66 No 4-5 |
| Key Words | Terrorist Organizations ; Impact of Ideological Ambiguity |