To instill fear or love: terrorist groups and the strategy of building reputation
Date
2018Source Title
Conflict Management and Peace Science
Print ISSN
0738-8942
Electronic ISSN
1549-9219
Publisher
SAGE
Volume
35
Issue
4
Pages
355 - 377
Language
English
Type
ArticleItem Usage Stats
216
views
views
347
downloads
downloads
Abstract
Why does one terrorist group employ actions that win the hearts and minds of its constituency
while another resorts to tactics that alienate their support? The paper investigates terrorist
groups’ strategy of building reputation in their constituency/in-group population and non-constituency/out-group population. Studying all domestic terrorist groups between 1980 and 2011 with
original data, we find that ethnic/religious groups and those with territorial control invest in positive reputation in their constituency as they can minimize the risks of returns. Radical groups and
those with cross-border support, however, tend to build negative constituency reputation. While
the former type of group has a small constituency, the latter ones can find resources across borders, which reduces their dependency on the constituency. Lastly, we find that terror groups
seeking policy concessions avoid building a negative reputation in their non-constituency as this
strategy enhances their chances of negotiating with the government.