When to Take Credit for Terrorism? A Cross-National Examination of Claims and Attributions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4086608 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Erin M Kearns (0000-0002-7895-9129, University of Alabama, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 164-193 |
| Publication date | 2021-01-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Terrorism and Political Violence (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0954-6553 • E-ISSN: 1556-1836 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09546553.2018.1540982 |
| OpenAlex | W2913287444 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 17 |
Rationalist research expects that groups claim credit for terrorism. Yet, the vast majority of attacks are not claimed. Of the unclaimed attacks, about half are attributed to a specific group. What factors impact claiming decisions? While extant literature largely treats claiming as binary—either claimed or not—the present study disaggregates claiming decisions further to also consider attacks with attributions of credit but no claim, using data from 160 countries between 1998 and 2016. Both attack-level and situational factors impact claiming decisions. Disaggregating claiming behavior shows meaningful differences. Specifically, competitive environments and suicide attacks increase claims but not attributions. Higher fatalities in general increase both claims and attributions, but when the target is civilian attributions decrease with a high body count whereas claims increase. Further, while the directional impact of other variables is the same, the magnitude of their effects vary between claims and attributions. Results are robust across modeling specifications. Findings demonstrate that our understanding of claiming behaviors is limited when claiming is treated as dichotomous. This study provides further insight into factors that impact claiming decisions for terrorism. Results can address data issues in academic research and inform counterterrorism responses
Attribution · Criminology · Economics · Extant taxon · Political science · Positive economics · Situational ethics · Terrorism · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence
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A Bipartite Network Analysis of Terrorism in Nigeria
The effects of social media on domestic terrorism
Challenging the Global Cultural Conflict Narrative
Fish swimming in denial
The nexus between information disorder and terrorism
Does plausible deniability work? Assessing the effectiveness of unclaimed coercive acts in the Ukraine war
Signaling Resolve through Credit-claiming
Is terrorism deadlier in democracies
Credit claims and the survival rates of terrorist organizations
Fifty Shades of Terrorist Credit-Taking
We have nothing to do with it
Criminal Communication
Grammar of Threat
A spiritual call
| Citations per year | 2.83 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2020 - 2025 (6) |
| Highly cited | No |