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How do the factors determining terrorist groups’ longevity differ from those affecting their success?

Khusrav Gaibulloev, Dongfang Hou and Todd Sandler

European Journal of Political Economy, 2020, vol. 65, issue C

Abstract: This paper distinguishes a terrorist group’s survivability from its success. Terrorist groups succeed if they join the political process or achieve some of their goals. Based on a sample of 470 terrorist groups, we first estimate the determinants of groups’ ending and, conditional on their demise, we identify factors conducive to their success. We find that religious fundamentalist terrorist groups survive longer than left-wing, nationalist/separatist, or right-wing groups; but religious groups are less apt than other ideologies to attain their objectives or to join the political process. Larger groups survive longer and possess a better success prognosis. Within-country group competition is conducive to survival, but harmful to success. Controls include groups’ goals, groups’ strategic choices, and home country’s characteristics. Robustness tests disaggregate our success measure, provide panel estimates, and incorporate other controls.

Keywords: Terrorist groups’ survivability; Terrorist groups’ success; Terrorist groups’ ideologies; Cross-sectional and panel analyses (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C41 D74 H56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:poleco:v:65:y:2020:i:c:s0176268020300835

DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2020.101935

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