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The Limits of Terrorism

[Jerusalem Post] Daniel Pipes - Does terrorism achieve its perpetrators' objectives? In his study, "Why Terrorism Does Not Work," Max Abrahms, a fellow at Stanford University, found that 28 terrorist groups (as designated by the State Department) with 42 different political goals had achieved only 3 of those goals, for a measly 7% success rate. The groups occasionally achieved limited success but mostly failed completely. Abrahms concludes that not only is terrorism "an ineffective instrument of coercion, but...its poor success rate is inherent to the tactic of terrorism itself." Frequent failure leads to demoralization, suggesting an eventual reduction of terrorism in favor of less violent tactics.
2009-04-24 06:00:00
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