Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/122228 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
DIIS Working Paper No. 2011:08
Publisher: 
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), Copenhagen
Abstract: 
Video-recorded decapitations have an enormous impact, they are cheap and easy, and they allow the terrorists to exploit the potential of the Internet. With these advantages, the tactic would have been expected to quickly spread across the globe as a favored tactic. Yet, years after its invention in 2002, this has not happened. This paper using evolutionary theory finds that video-recorded decapitations have not caught on for locally specific reasons: in the West because the tactic is less accessible than one might expect; in Iraq because of the unwillingness to be associated with Zarqawi, and in the Afghan context, it has not spread because it is mainly relevant for mobilizing resources from abroad, which is not a priority for the Taliban. These are however situational variables, and just as suicide bombings took years to spread, there may be campaigns of video-recorded decapitations as conditions change.
ISBN: 
978-87-7605-247-8
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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