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Targeting strategies in single-issue bomb attacks

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Abstract

Despite the wealth of research that has been conducted on global terrorism over recent years, few empirical studies have addressed ‘single-issue’ terrorism, and little is known about the targeting strategies employed by these groups. This article examines the targeting in 247 bomb attacks carried out by violent animal rights and anti-abortion extremists worldwide between 1978 and 2008. Using non-metric multidimensional scaling (MDS) the empirical data are used to construct a model of targeting behaviour that shows four modes of attack; two of which are primarily designed to cause economic damage or fear, and two of which are potentially lethal to the target occupants. The model is then used to compare the tactics of extremists associated with the two different causes and the implications for prevention are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

Support for this research was provided by the Department of Homeland Security, Human Factors/Behavioral Science Division, through the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect views of the Department of Homeland Security. The authors are grateful to Richard Legault for his helpful comments on an earlier draft.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Eleanor Rathbone Building, Liverpool, L69 7ZA, UK

    Lucy Lemanski

  2. Institute for Security Science and Technology, Imperial College London, Level 1, Faculty Building, London, SW7 2AZ, UK

    Margaret Wilson

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  1. Lucy Lemanski
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  2. Margaret Wilson
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Correspondence to Margaret Wilson.

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Lemanski, L., Wilson, M. Targeting strategies in single-issue bomb attacks. Secur J 29, 53–71 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1057/sj.2015.44

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