How Terrorist Groups End: Lessons for Countering al Qa'ida
Many studies have asked how terrorist groups are born; relatively few have described how such groups are best put out of business. A recent effort to do the latter, by RAND Corporation, an American think-tank, is therefore welcome. It considers the fate of some 650 groups (defined widely), between 1968 and 2006, asking in particular what put an end to them. In the process it casts some useful light on a hoary old question of counterterrorism: whether military force or smart policing is the more effective method for tackling terrorists and insurgents... The recommendations of the report are not just of interest to anti-terrorist organisations; their opponents may be worried that the insights can help to bring about their own demise. Possibly to guard against this possibility one jihadist apparently translated much of the RAND report and posted a copy online within only a few days of its original publication.The EconomistSince there are many analysts, operators, and academics from different fields committed to finding a greater understanding of terrorism and avenues through which to defeat terrorist groups, this study will generate a lot of discussion and debate on all fronts.... Ultimately, this will enhance our knowledge of terrorism and terrorist groups and lead to more-informed policy choices. For this reason, How Terrorist Groups End is a great contribution to the analysis of terrorism.Political Science Quarterly, , Fall 2009How Terrorist Groups End: Lessons for Countering al Qa'ida is a timely and relevant report which fills a major research gap. The authors are the first socio-political scientists to conduct a quantitative analysis and comparative review of how terrorist groups end through an exploration of the social, political, economic, technological, and cultural dimensions of 648 terrorist groups that existed between 1968 and 2006.... There are countless books, articles, and research papers that address the origins of terrorist groups, determine how they come to select political violence as their primary tool, and assess the efficacy of terrorism as a means of achieving their end goals.  How Terrorist Groups End: Lessons for Countering al Qa'ida is a refreshing piece that transcends previous attempts at describing the fate of terrorist organizations and, although it is not a stated objective of the report, underscores the disconnect between academia and the military establishment.Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, Volume 6, Issue 1, 2009Seth Jones and Martin Libicki of the RAND Corporation provide several typically thorough and workmanlike case studies on the decline and fall of terrorist groups, including Japan's Aum Shinrikyo, the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) in El Salvador, and al-Qaeda in Iraq, along with a comprehensive 'End-of-Terror Data Set' and more focused and prescriptive analyses of the weaknesses of the United States' counter-terrorism strategy and the ending of the 'war' on terrorism.Survival, December 2009-January 2010