This paper examines how the different goals of terrorist group leaders affect their decision making calculus. This study uses a formal model and shows that terrorist group leaders who are more concerned with gaining concessions from the government are likely to use lower levels of violence. The empirical analysis echoes the results of the formal model and provides evidence for the external validity of the model. Taken together these results suggest that some of the variation in terrorist group lethality is due to variation in the terrorist group leaders' goals.
","abstract_html":"<p>This paper examines how the different goals of terrorist group leaders affect their decision making calculus. This study uses a formal model and shows that terrorist group leaders who are more concerned with gaining concessions from the government are likely to use lower levels of violence. The empirical analysis echoes the results of the formal model and provides evidence for the external validity of the model. Taken together these results suggest that some of the variation in terrorist group lethality is due to variation in the terrorist group leaders' goals.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Fuller, Samantha"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts","degree_level":"thesis","degree_discipline":"Political Science","degree_department":"Department of Political Science","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Mark Nieman"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-01-01","date_published":"2020-01-01","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:37:49Z","subjects":[],"languages":["en"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["https://doi.org/10.31274/etd-20200624-199"],"render_values":[{"text":"https://doi.org/10.31274/etd-20200624-199","href":"https://doi.org/10.31274/etd-20200624-199","code":true}]},{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["archive/lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/18020/"],"render_values":[{"text":"archive/lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/18020/","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/handle/20.500.12876/32203","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Mark Nieman"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Department of Political Science"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Fuller, Samantha"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2020-06-26T20:03:11.000"]},{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2020-06-30T03:22:32Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2020-06-30T03:22:32Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2020-01-01"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Political Science"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["archive/lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/18020/"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["https://doi.org/10.31274/etd-20200624-199"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/handle/20.500.12876/32203"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This paper examines how the different goals of terrorist group leaders affect their decision making calculus. This study uses a formal model and shows that terrorist group leaders who are more concerned with gaining concessions from the government are likely to use lower levels of violence. The empirical analysis echoes the results of the formal model and provides evidence for the external validity of the model. Taken together these results suggest that some of the variation in terrorist group lethality is due to variation in the terrorist group leaders' goals.
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