Why terrorists target children

Outbidding, desperation, and extremism in the Peshawar and Beslan school massacres

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4903791
AutoresYelena Biberman (0000-0003-1785-0266, Skidmore College, autor de correspondencia), Farhan Zahid (National Police Academy, Islamabad, Pakistan)
Año2019
Volumen31
Número2
Páginas169-184
Fecha de publicación2019-03-04
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaTerrorism and Political Violence (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0954-6553 • E-ISSN: 1556-1836
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09546553.2015.1135425
OpenAlexW2286894125
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas17

Why do terrorists engage in behavior that is extreme even by their own admission—killing children? This behavior poses a major puzzle to our understanding of terrorism, but it has been surprisingly underexplored. This article addresses the question of why terrorists intentionally target children with a comparative study of the two deadliest attacks in which children were deliberately targeted by a militant organization: the Peshawar (2014) and Beslan (2004) school massacres. The article identifies two factors that increase the likelihood that a terrorist group will target children. The first is the presence of internal rifts within an already highly violent organization. This is likely to trigger outbidding and, thus, result in more brutal attacks. The second is existentially threatening external pressure, which seriously weakens the group and, thus, leads it to select soft and shocking targets, such as schools. The findings are based on evidence drawn from primary and secondary sources, including interviews conducted in Peshawar and Islamabad, Pakistan, and Moscow, Russia

Criminology · Militant · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Terrorism · Violent extremism · Health and Conflict Studies · Law · Migration, Health and Trauma · Psychology · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence