Third party involvement in international terrorist extortion

Abstract

This thesis examines the hypothesis that when international terrorists conduct successful extortionary events, they are encouraged to carry out similar events. The thesis contains a methodology for collecting information about extortionary terrorist events in a format suitable for aggregate data analysis, This methodology was used for recording data on all international terrorist extortionary events which could be found for the period 1968-1975. Bivariate analysis was used in an effort to reveal the determinants of terrorist success in kidnappings, hijackings and barricade incidents. It was found that the variables which contribute to terrorist success are so interrelated that no single determinant of terrorist success could be isolated. Tests of the hypothesis were unable to produce conclusive results. Whether or not terrorist success encourages further terrorist extortionary activity could not be proven in this study.