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Abstract
Jihadist violence is typically associated with being particularly indiscriminate. Often, as in variations of the ‘new terrorism’ thesis, this characteristic is proposed to correspond in some way to its other attributes such as its globalised, decentralised and ‘postmodern’ religious nature. Recent work appears to give more substance to such claims, by claiming to show a relationship between indiscriminate violence and decentralised group organisation. However, in this paper we show, based on an analysis of jihadist targeting in Western Europe and America from 2001 to 2013, that targeting choices by jihadists unconnected to organised militant groups have in fact been consistently more, rather than less discriminate in their targeting choices than their better-integrated peers. Drawing on this finding, as well as a broader reading of jihadist targeting discourses, we argue for a more complex understanding of the relationship between radicalisation, extremist ideology, decentralisation, and targeting choice.
Notes
1 See e.g. Antony Field, ‘The “New Terrorism”: Revolution Or Evolution?’, Political Studies Review 7/2 (2009), 195–207, doi:10.1111/j.1478-9299.2009.00179.x.; Isabelle Duyvesteyn, ‘How New Is The New Terrorism?’, Studies In Conflict & Terrorism 27/5 (2004), 439–54, doi:10.1080/10576100490483750; D. Tucker, ‘What Is New About The New Terrorism And How Dangerous Is It?’, Terrorism and Political Violence 13/3 (2001), 1–14, doi:10.1080/09546550109609688; Martha Crenshaw, ‘The Debate Over “New” Versus “Old” Terrorism’, in Ibrāhīm Karawān, Wayne McCormack and Stephen E. Reynolds, Values And Violence (Dordrecht: Springer 2008).
2 Walter Laqueur, The New Terrorism (New York: OUP 1999).
3 Eli Berman, Radical, Religious and Violent (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 2009).
4 Robert Pape, Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism (New York: Random House 2005).
5 Faisal Devji, The Terrorist In Search Of Humanity (New York: Columbia UP 2008).
6 Philip Bobbitt, Terror and Consent (New York: Knopf 2008).
7 Roger Griffin, Terrorist’s Creed: Fanatical Violence and the Human Need for Meaning (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2012).
8 Charles W. Kegley, The New Global Terrorism: Characteristics, Causes, Controls (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall 2003).
9 Max Abrahms and Philip Potter, ‘Explaining Terrorism: Leadership Deficits and Militant Group Tactics’, International Organization/First View Article (March 2015), 1–32, doi: 10.1017/S0020818314000411, available from https://www.academia.edu/5365151/Explaining_Terrorism_Leadership_Deficits_and_Militant_Group_Tactics_forthcoming_ in_International_Organization_with_Phil_Potter.
10 Jessica Stern, ‘The Protean Enemy’, Foreign Affairs 82/ 4 (July–Aug.2003); George Michael, ‘Leaderless Resistance: The New Face of Terrorism’, Defence Studies 12/ 2, (June 2012), 257–82.
11 Paul Joosse, ‘Leaderless Resistance And Ideological Inclusion: The Case Of The Earth Liberation Front’’, Terrorism And Political Violence 19/. 3 (2007), 351–68, doi:10.1080/09546550701424042.
12 Our conception of ‘leaderless jihad’ as will be made clear, is significantly narrower than that put forward by Marc Sageman in his book of the same title.
13 -This quotation comes from the translation ‘Jihad against Jews and Crusaders: World Islamic Front Statement’, <http://fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm>.
14 For a review see, e.g. Alex Schmid, ‘Radicalisation, De-Radicalisation, Counter-Radicalisation: A Conceptual Discussion and Overview’, Research Paper, March 2013, International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, The Hague.
15 Mitchell Silber and Arvin Bhatt, ‘Radicalization in the West: The Home Grown Threat’, Report produced by the New York Police Department, available from <www.nypdshield.org/public/SiteFiles/documents/NYPD_Report-Radicalization_in_the_West.pdf>.
16 Mustafa Sittmariyam Nasar (Abu Mus’ab al-Suri) The Global Islamic Resistance Call, 1363.
17 Thomas Hegghammer, Jihad in Saudi Arabia: Violence and Pan-Islamism since 1979(New York: CUP 2010).
18 Ibid., 191.
19 Abd al-‘Aziz al-Muqrin, Dawrat ‘Amli fi Harb al-‘Isabat (a practical course in guerrilla warfare), 1381ff.
20 The Global Islamic Resistance Call, 1380.
21 See, for example, Anne Stenersen, ‘Bomb Making for Beginners: Inside an Al-Qaeda E-Learning Course’, Perspectives on Terrorism 7/1, (Feb. 2013).
22 ’he Al Qaeda Chef’, ‘It is of your freedom to ignite a firebomb’, Inspire 9, 30–6.
23 The Global Islamic Resistance Call, 1389.
24 Anwar al-Awlaki, ‘Targeting the Populations of Countries that are at War with Muslims’, Inspire no. 8, 41–6.
25 For attacks by Al-Qaeda and its affiliates that targeted the West, we used data from the Global Terrorism Database. For figures on grassroots operations the United States, we relied on: Jerome P. Bjelopero, American Jihadist Terrorism: Combating a Complex Threat (Washington DC: Congressional Research Service 2014). For Europe we used a series of papers compiled by Petter Nesser: Petter Nesser, ‘Chronology of Jihadism in Western Europe 1994–2007: Planned, Pprepared and Executed Terrorist Attacks’, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 31 (2008), 924–46; Petter Nesser, ‘Toward an Increasingly Heterogeneous Threat: A Chronology of Jihadist Terrorism in Europe 2008–2013’, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 37/5 (2014), 440–56. Where necessary, we sought further information from sources including: New America Foundation; Investigative Project; Department of Justice; and Crown Prosecution Service. We also made extensive use of media reporting and individual country’s online data; languages included French, German, Italian, English and Spanish.
26 In the case of the ‘Newburgh Four’, the cell was allegedly offered $250,000 and a luxury car to blow up a synagogue and shoot down military aircraft. A.G. Sulzberger, ‘Defense cites entrapment in terror case’, New York Times, 17 March 2010, <www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/nyregion/18newburgh.html>.
27 For example, the ‘Liberty Seven’ plot involved an informant – posing as a member of Al- Qaeda – proposing they attack FBI offices in Miami. Walter Pincus, ‘FBI role in terror probe questioned’, Washington Post, 2 Sept. 2006. <www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/01/AR2006090101764.html>.
28 Committee on Homeland Security, The Road to Boston: Counterterrorism Challenges and Lessons from the Marathon Bombings (Washington DC: House Homeland Committee Report 2014), <http://homeland.house.gov/sites/homeland.house.gov/files/documents/Boston-Bombings-Report.pdf>.
29 Sarah V. Marsden, Daiana Marino and Gilbert Ramsay, ‘Forest Jihad: Assessing the Evidence for ‘“Popular Resistance Terrorism’’’, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 37/1 (2014), 1–17.
30 Cristina Archetti, Understanding Terrorism in the Age of Global Media (New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2013).
31 Numerous works make this approximate distinction, however it is perhaps useful here to draw attention to Olivier Roy’s use of ‘neofundamentalism’ as an alternative to ‘salafism’, which is both over-broad and over-specific in this context. See Olivier Roy, Globalised Islam: The Search for a New Ummah (London: Hurst 2004).
32 Yusuf al-Uyayri, Constants on the Path of Jihad (thawabit ‘ala darab al-jihad), no date.
33 For more development of this argument, see Gilbert Ramsay and Sarah Marsden, ‘Radical Distinctions: A Comparative Study of Two Jihadi Texts’, Critical Studies on Terrorism 6/3 (2013), 392–409.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Gilbert A. Ramsay
Gilbert Ramsay is a lecturer in International Relations at the University of St Andrews, where he also took his PhD. His interests generally centre on political mobilisation, use of the Internet by militant groups and cultural aspects of jihadi-salafism. His first book, Jihadi Culture on the World Wide Web, is now available in paperback from Bloomsbury Academic.
Sarah V. Marsden
Sarah Marsden is a lecturer at the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the School of International Relations, University of St Andrews. Sarah’s research revolves around conceptualising and explaining the process and in particular, the decline of terrorism and collective violence with a focus on the Middle East. Her forthcoming book, Reintegrating Extremists: ‘Deradicalisation’ and Desistance, examines efforts to resettle those convicted of terrorism offences in the UK over the last 10 years.