Infrastructures of Terrorist Organizations (From Perspectives on Terrorism, P 61-70, 1983, Lawrence Zelic Freedman and Yonah Alexander, eds. See NCJ-100393)

• NCJ Number: 100395
• Author(s): J K Zawodny
• Date Published: 1983
• Length: 10 pages
• Sale Source: Scholarly Resources, Inc.
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: A revised Version of the paper presented at the conference, 'Psychopathology and Political Violence: Terrorism and Assassination,' sponsored by the Institute of Social and Behavioral Pathology and the University of Chicago Department of Psychiatry, Chicago, Illinois, 16-17 November 1979.

Annotation

Eleven behavioral characteristics of contemporary terrorist organizations are directly related to their infrastructure, which consists of a leader at the center who plans, coordinates, and leads attacks with rank-and-file members.

Abstract

The centrifugal style of infrastructure builds personal loyalties to leaders and facilitates direct and rapid communication. Direct accessibility to the leader permits rapid response to members' suggestions and proposals. The smallness of the centrifugal system makes it independent of support networks and facilitates rapid relocation. Closeness to the leader tends to embue followers with his charismatic aura, which is enhanced by the leader's direct involvement in the recruitment and selection of new members. Centrifugal groups tend to resist alliances with stronger groups and prefer informal networks with peer groups. The 'bloating' characteristic of hierarchical organizations is absent from centrifugal organizations because this would hamper the leader's direct exercise of power. The terrorist leader tends to assert leadership qualities and maintain group cohesion through the commission of dramatic, violent acts rationalized as serving the group's cause. 17 footnotes.