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Nonstate Actors and the Diffusion of Innovations: The Case of Suicide Terrorism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2010

Michael C. Horowitz
Michael C. Horowitz
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. E-mail: horom@sas.upenn.edu
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Abstract

Studies of terrorism in general and suicide terrorism in particular tend to view terrorist groups independently. However, what if the propensity for a terrorist group to adopt suicide tactics depends in part on its external linkages and the relationship between the organizational capabilities required to adopt the innovation and the organizational capabilities of the group? This article shows that the organizational change requirements for adopting an innovation significantly influence the overall adoption pattern, along with interlinkages between groups. Additionally, evaluating the universe of terrorist groups, not only those groups that adopted suicide terrorism but those that did not, shows that Pape's key variable of interest, occupation, does not significantly predict the adoption of suicide terrorism. Thinking about suicide terrorism as a special case of diffusion in the military area—an innovation for nonstate groups—can help bring the study of suicide terrorism further into the mainstream and highlight how the phenomenon has not just differences, but similarities, to other innovations.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Organization , Volume 64 , Issue 1 , January 2010 , pp. 33 - 64
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 2010

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