Putting the “O” in VEOs: What makes an organization?

Abstract

Violent extremist organizations differ from other ideologically based groups that do not necessarily meet formal criteria to be considered organizations, and distinguishing between these types of collective arrangements is critical in understanding their strengths and weaknesses. We identified three arrangements of individuals with varying levels of sophistication: groups, simple organizations, and complex organizations. Each arrangement is discussed in terms of its influence on fundraising, recruiting, and attack execution, with particular emphasis being placed on exemplars from the white supremacist ideology. Despite their shared ideology, white supremacists illustrate marked performance-related differences that are influenced by organizational factors such as leadership, structure, and formalization. Analyzing those differences led us to conclude that organizations are unique from groups, different structures are best suited for certain strategies, leadership matters a great deal in the context of violent extremist organizations, and organizations are not static.

Keywords::

• organization
• terrorism
• white supremacy
• ideology
• violent extremism

Acknowledgement

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under Grant Award Number 2010-ST-061-RE0001. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.