Leadership Decapitation
Title | Leadership Decapitation PDF eBook |
Author | Jenna Jordan |
Publisher | Stanford University Press |
Pages | 369 |
Release | 2019-11-12 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 1503610675 |
One of the central pillars of US counterterrorism policy is that capturing or killing a terrorist group's leader is effective. Yet this pillar rests more on a foundation of faith than facts. In Leadership Decapitation, Jenna Jordan examines over a thousand instances of leadership targeting—involving groups such as Hamas, al Qaeda, Shining Path, and ISIS—to identify the successes, failures, and unintended consequences of this strategy. As Jordan demonstrates, group infrastructure, ideology, and popular support all play a role in determining how and why leadership decapitation succeeds or fails. Taking heed of these conditions is essential to an effective counterterrorism policy going forward.
Military Strategy: A Very Short Introduction
Title | Military Strategy: A Very Short Introduction PDF eBook |
Author | Antulio J. Echevarria II |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Pages | 161 |
Release | 2024 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 0197760155 |
Military Strategy: A Very Short Introduction adapts Clausewitz's framework to highlight the dynamic relationship between the main elements of strategy: purpose, method, and means. Drawing on historical examples, Antulio J. Echevarria discusses the major types of military strategy and how emerging technologies are affecting them. This second edition has been updated to include an expanded chapter on manipulation through cyberwarfare and new further reading.
How Terrorism Ends
Title | How Terrorism Ends PDF eBook |
Author | Audrey Kurth Cronin |
Publisher | Princeton University Press |
Pages | 336 |
Release | 2011-08-28 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 069115239X |
Annotation This work answers questions concerning the length of time that terrorist campaigns last and when targeting leadership finishes a group. It examines a wide range of historical examples to identify the ways in which almost all terrorist groups die out.
Bombing to Win
Title | Bombing to Win PDF eBook |
Author | Robert A. Pape |
Publisher | Cornell University Press |
Pages | 547 |
Release | 2014-04-11 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 0801471508 |
From Iraq to Bosnia to North Korea, the first question in American foreign policy debates is increasingly: Can air power alone do the job? Robert A. Pape provides a systematic answer. Analyzing the results of over thirty air campaigns, including a detailed reconstruction of the Gulf War, he argues that the key to success is attacking the enemy's military strategy, not its economy, people, or leaders. Coercive air power can succeed, but not as cheaply as air enthusiasts would like to believe.Pape examines the air raids on Germany, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq as well as those of Israel versus Egypt, providing details of bombing and governmental decision making. His detailed narratives of the strategic effectiveness of bombing range from the classical cases of World War II to an extraordinary reconstruction of airpower use in the Gulf War, based on recently declassified documents. In this now-classic work of the theory and practice of airpower and its political effects, Robert A. Pape helps military strategists and policy makers judge the purpose of various air strategies, and helps general readers understand the policy debates.
Leadership Decapitation
Title | Leadership Decapitation PDF eBook |
Author | Megan Madelyn Thomas |
Publisher | |
Pages | 88 |
Release | 2017 |
Genre | |
ISBN |
What is the effect of leadership decapitation—the targeted killing or capture of a leader—on the violence levels of terrorist groups? Strong evidence has yet to emerge, as existing literature examines its effect on group degradation, measured as the duration of group existence post-decapitation. However, this outcome variable does not allow us to fully explore the question. Rather than ending the group or not, terrorist groups may utilize higher levels of violence post-decapitation. Instead of simply being ineffective, leadership decapitation may in fact be counter-productive. Building on a principal-agent model as a theoretical lens, I explore the full effects of leadership decapitation. Without the leader’s more strategic perspective and assertion of operational control, group operative’s more violent preferences are often realized. Yet, without the organization and resources provided by a leader, these mechanistic groups are less efficient in their attacks post-decapitation. Consistent with this theory, examining 42,000 attacks from 133 terrorist groups over 46 years, leadership decapitation has the countervailing effect of a greater number of attacks post-decapitation, but lower levels of fatalities per attack.
Terrorism Financing and State Responses
Title | Terrorism Financing and State Responses PDF eBook |
Author | Jeanne K. Giraldo |
Publisher | Stanford University Press |
Pages | 388 |
Release | 2007 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 9780804755665 |
This book takes a broadly comparative approach to analyzing how the financing of global jihadi terrorist groups has evolved in response to government policies since September 11, 2001.
Targeting: The Challenges of Modern Warfare
Title | Targeting: The Challenges of Modern Warfare PDF eBook |
Author | Paul A.L. Ducheine |
Publisher | Springer |
Pages | 303 |
Release | 2015-11-03 |
Genre | Law |
ISBN | 9462650721 |
This book offers a multidisciplinary treatment of targeting. It is intended for use by the military, government legal advisers and academics. The book is suitable for use in both military training and educational programs and in Bachelor and Master degree level courses on such topics as War Studies and Strategic Studies. The book first explores the context of targeting, its evolution and the current targeting process and characteristics. An overview of the legal and ethical constraints on targeting as an operational process follows. It concludes by surveying contemporary issues in targeting such as the potential advent of autonomous weapon systems, ‘non-kinetic’ targeting, targeting in multinational military operations and leadership decapitation in counter-terrorism operations. The deep practical experience and academic background of the contributors ensures comprehensive treatment of current targeting and use of force issues. Paul Ducheine is Professor for Cyber Operations and Cyber Security, Netherlands Defence Academy, Breda, The Netherlands; and Professor of Law of Military Cyber Operations and Cyber Security at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Michael Schmitt is Charles H. Stockton Professor & Director, Stockton Center for the Study of International Law, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, and Professor of Public International Law, University of Exeter, UK. Frans Osinga is Chair of the War Studies Department, Netherlands Defence Academy, Breda, The Netherlands, and Professor of Military Operational Art and Sciences.