Description
Book SynopsisThis book provides a groundbreaking analysis of how religious terrorist groups manage and adapt to major shifts in leadership. It argues that how successors position themselves in terms of the founder shapes a terrorist group’s future course and examines how and why different types of successors choose to pursue incremental or discontinuous change.
Trade ReviewMeticulous in its research,
Terror in Transition delivers an abundance of new insight into the impact of succession on terrorist entities, delivering on its objective to better “analyze the implications of decapitation.” Focusing on the essence of a leader’s “how” and “why” and its relationship to succession,
Terror in Transition also provides CT practitioners with a framework to assess other options for influencing the direction of terrorist entities. -- Gina M. Bennett, author of
National Security Mom: Why Going Soft Will Make America StrongTerror in Transition is the definitive study of how terrorist groups manage (or fail to manage) leadership transitions. Bacon and Grimm's analysis helps us understand how and why certain terrorist groups thrive while some split or otherwise cannot manage the transition. Their many insights can help counterterrorist officials exploit transition tensions to weaken extremist groups. -- Daniel Byman, author of
Spreading Hate: The Global Rise of White Supremacist TerrorismAn original, systematic, detailed, and rigorous analysis of terrorist leadership and succession. A very compelling study of a major topic. -- Richard English, author of
Does Terrorism Work?: A HistoryMeticulous in its research,
Terror in Transition delivers an abundance of new insight into the impact of succession on terrorist entities, delivering on its objective to better “analyze the implications of decapitation.” Focusing on the essence of a leader’s “how” and “why” and its relationship to succession,
Terror in Transition also provides CT practitioners with a framework to assess other options for influencing the direction of terrorist entities. -- Gina M. Bennett, author of
National Security Mom: Why Going Soft Will Make America StrongBacon and Grimm have written an outstanding book, essential reading for anyone seeking to understand terrorist organizations, or leadership of violent groups in general. -- Brian Phillips * Small War Journals *
It rewards unpacking owing to its analytic soundness, practical utility and, lamentably, its ongoing relevance. * Survival *
An important conceptual and knowledge-based foundation, which will undoubtedly be built on for years to come. * Parameters *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction
1. Literature Review and Research Design
2. Founders: Who Is a Founder, What Does He Do, and Who Comes Next?
3. The Second Ku Klux Klan: From Founder to Fixer
4. Egyptian Islamic Jihad: From Founder to Figureheads, to Fixer, to Visionary
5. Al-Qaida in Iraq/the Islamic State of Iraq: From Founder to Signalers
6. Al-Shabaab: From Founder to Fixer, to Figurehead
7. Pathways and Possibilities: Lessons Learned from the Mini–Case Studies
Conclusion
Appendix A. Religious Terrorist Groups
Appendix B. Summary of Mini–Case Study Data
Notes
Bibliography
Index
