International Security

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International Security
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The Strategies of Terrorism

Terrorism uses violence as a form of costly signaling to alter perceptions by demonstrating strength and imposing costs, with strategies including attrition, intimidation, provocation, spoiling, and outbidding. State responses must be tailored to address these strategies effectively, as each works under different conditions, and a combination of strategies requires a multifaceted approach.

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Summary

Terrorism is designed to change minds by destroying bodies; it is a form of costly signaling. Terrorists employ five primary strategies of costly signaling: attrition, intimidation, provocation, spoiling, and outbidding. The main targets of persuasion are the enemy and the population that the terrorists hope to represent or control. Terrorists wish to signal that they have the strength and will to impose costs on those who oppose them, and that the enemy and moderate groups on the terrorists’ side cannot be trusted and should not be supported. Each strategy works well under certain conditions and poorly under others. State responses to one strategy may be inappropriate for other strategies. In some cases, however, terrorists are pursuing a combination of strategies, and the response must also work well against this combination.

Recommended citation

Kydd, Andrew and Barbara Walter. “The Strategies of Terrorism.” Summer 2006