The dynamics of Middle East terrorism, 1968-1993: A functional typology of terrorist group-type

The structural basis of this study revolves around three defining characteristics that distinguish among terrorist group types: ideology, goals and recruitment patterns. Based on those characteristics, a typology of Middle East terrorism is developed which can categorize Middle East terrorist groups in a way that makes it possible to generate and test hypotheses about terrorist group behavior. Those hypotheses revolve around testing the influence of six independent and intervening variables: political ideology, group size, group age, time passage, location, and political events. At the most basic level, the typology is functional because the data from the hypothesis testing reveal regular patterns of behavior that lend themselves to predictions about the future. Notwithstanding that, intrinsic to the concept of typology functionality is the capacity to respond to the inevitability of change. This typology meets that criterion as well because it provides a blue-print for the classification of Middle East terrorist group-types that may emerge over time. Eight Middle East terrorist group-types have been extracted from this typology for further study. The analysis makes it clear that each of those group-types exhibit different behavior characteristics.