RT Article
T1 Target Hardening and Non-State Armed Groups’ Target Selection: Evidence from India
JF Terrorism and political violence
VO 36
IS 8
SP 1105
OP 1126
A1 Onder, Ilayda B.
LA English
YR 2024
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1907407480
AB This study explores the variation in the non-state armed group (NSAGs)'s behavior concerning target selection. Scholars of transnational terrorism have investigated transnational NSAGs' target selection. However, we are still missing out on the most common form of terrorism, terrorism perpetrated by domestic NSAGs involved in civil conflicts. This paper’s novel contribution is to the understanding of domestic NSAGs’ strategic logic. I argue that hardening makes soft targets, including civilians, attractive targets when hard targets are no longer attractive. NSAGs tactically adapt to hardening by switching to soft targets or by displacing attacks to adjacent locations within their home country. The empirical results from data on relevant state-group dyads in India between 2004–2016 show that domestic NSAGs (1) switch to soft targets when faced with hardening, (2) less frequently target soft targets when more of their attacks against hard targets have been logistically successful, and (3) commit more attacks in their primary area of operation when more of their attacks in that location have been logistically successful. These findings emphasize a variety of ways through which domestic NSAGs adapt their tactics and underscore potential costs for target hardening.
K1 Domestic terrorism
K1 targeting of civilians
K1 terrorism in civil conflicts
K1 non-state armed groups
K1 target selection
K1 Hardening
DO 10.1080/09546553.2023.2252917