Abstract
Recent studies examine factors that lead to the emergence of terrorism and why some locations are more frequently targeted than others. However, much of the research assumes that terrorist incidents and groups are independent. We show that the assumption of independence is not always valid. Instead, we identify the conditions under which terrorist groups share choices over target locations, forming Implicit Terrorist Networks. We demonstrate the utility of this approach by examining Islamic terrorism in India (1990–2015). Using a two-mode network approach, we find that violent target locations are not independent of each other, but instead have a tendency to occur in clusters. The results highlight the patterns by which India has been targeted by a number of active, Islamic terrorist organizations over a 25-year period. More generally, our study: (1) demonstrates the utility of employing an Implicit Network approach to understanding terrorism, (2) shows that cluster analysis can assist in identifying terror group aliases, (3) identifies unexpected locations for violence that may indicate the involvement of external factors, providing leads for counter terrorism efforts, and (4) provides a tool for identifying the structures underlying patterns of global terrorism.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Asal, V.H., Park, H.H., Rethemeyer, R.K., Ackerman, G.: With friends like these... Why terrorist organizations ally. Int. Public Manag. J. 19(1), 1–30 (2016)
Felmlee, D.H.: Interaction in social networks. In: Delamater, J. (ed.) Handbook of Social Psychology. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Boston (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-36921-X_16
Felmlee, D.H., Lungeanu, A., Kreager, D.: Online Dating Preferences: Two-Mode versus One-Mode ERGM Network Analysis. Presented at the meetings of the Population Association of America, Chicago, IL (2017)
Berrebi, C., Lakdawalla, D.: How does terrorism risk vary across space and time? An analysis based on the Israeli experience. Def. Peace Econ. 18(2), 113–131 (2007)
McCauley, C.: Jujitsu politics: Terrorism and response to terrorism. In: Collateral Damage: The Psychological Consequences of America’s War on Terrorism. Greenwood Publishing Group (2006)
Crenshaw, M.: The logic of terrorism. Terror. Perspect. 24, 24–33 (2007)
Drake, C.J.: The role of ideology in terrorists’ target selection. Terror. Polit. Violence 10(2), 53–85 (1998)
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) Homepage. https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd. Accessed 26 Apr 2018
South Asian Terrorism Portal. India: Terrorist, Insurgent, and Extremist Groups. http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/terroristoutfits/index.html. Accessed 26 Apr 2018
Basu, A.: Social network analysis of terrorist organizations in India. In: North American Association for Computational Social and Organizational Science (NAACSOS) Conference, pp. 26–28 (2005)
Saxena, S., Santhanam, K., Basu, A.: Application of social network analysis (SNA) to terrorist networks in Jammu & Kashmir. Strateg. Anal. 28(1), 84–101 (2004)
Wasserman, S., Faust, K.: Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications, 1st edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1994)
Breiger, R.L.: The duality of persons and groups. Soc. Forces 53(2), 181–190 (1974)
McPherson, J.M.: Hypernetwork sampling: Duality and differentiation among voluntary organizations. Soc. Netw. 3(4), 225–249 (1982)
Freeman, L.C.: Centrality in social networks: Conceptual clarification. Soc. Netw. 1, 215–239 (1979)
Newman, M.E.: The mathematics of networks. New Palgrave Encycl. Econ. 2, 1–12 (2008)
Clauset, A., Newman, M.E.J., Moore, C.: Finding community structure in very large networks. Phys. Rev. 70(6), 1–6 (2004)
Arquilla, J., Ronfeldt, D.: Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime, and Militancy. Rand Corporation, Santa Monica (2001)
Gartner, S.S.: An Introduction to Net Assessment 2.0: Special Issue on the Net Assessment of Violent Non-State Actors. CTX: Conflict Terrorism Exchange (2015)
Krebs, V.E.: Mapping networks of terrorist cells. Connections 24(3), 43–52 (2002)
Gartner, S.S.: Ties to the dead: Connections to Iraq War and 9/11 casualties and disapproval of the president. Am. Sociol. Rev. 73(4), 690–695 (2008)
Everton, S.F.: Disrupting Dark Networks. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2012)
Acknowledgment
This research was sponsored in part by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the U.K. Ministry of Defense under Agreement Number W911NF-16-3-0001. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, the U.S. Government, the U.K. Ministry of Defense or the U.K. Government. The U.S. and U.K. Governments are authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Government purposes notwithstanding any copy-right notation hereon.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this paper
Cite this paper
Yarlagadda, R., Felmlee, D., Verma, D., Gartner, S. (2018). Implicit Terrorist Networks: A Two-Mode Social Network Analysis of Terrorism in India. In: Thomson, R., Dancy, C., Hyder, A., Bisgin, H. (eds) Social, Cultural, and Behavioral Modeling. SBP-BRiMS 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10899. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93372-6_37
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93372-6_37
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-93371-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-93372-6
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)