The study of terrorist leadership: where do we go from here?
| Date | 18 September 2017 |
| Published date | 18 September 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JCRPP-09-2016-0018 |
| Pages | 208-221 |
| Author | David C. Hofmann |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology |
The study of terrorist leadership: where do
we go from here?
David C. Hofmann
Abstract
Purpose –Despite the recognition of the importance of leaders for the formation and ongoing success of
social and political movements, the study of leadership in terrorist groups remains underdeveloped.
The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to stimulate additional research into terrorist leadership in three main
ways: by providing a broad overview of the theoretical perspectives that scholars have used to examine
terrorist leadership, by critically reviewing the current state of the academic literature on terrorist leadership,
and by presenting various ways in which future research on terrorist leadership can be improved.
Design/methodology/approach –This paper takes a conceptual and critical approach to reviewing the
scholarly literature on terrorist leadership, and draws upon the author’s expertise with the wider
multidisciplinary literature on leadership to make methodological and conceptual recommendations to
improve related future research.
Findings –There is a paucity of empirical and theoretical research devoted to understanding important
social and strategic aspects of terrorist leadership, and existing scholarly research is largely conducted in
isolation with differing methodological and epistemological starting points. This has hampered efforts to
measure, operationalize, and understand key concepts involving leadership in terrorist groups.
Practical implications –This paper provides several methodological and conceptual recommendations by
which future research on terrorist leadership can be improved from insights taken from the wider scholarly
literature on leadership. By virtue of being published in a criminology journal, this paper helps disseminate and
expose key concepts in the study of terrorism to related disciplines.
Originality/value –This paper provides a general overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the study of
terrorist leadership to scholars and students interested in the topic. It provides a foundational discussion of
how the current literature on terrorist conceives of and utilizes the concept of leadership. It also provides
methodological and conceptual recommendations to improve future research on terrorist leadership.
Keywords Methods, Leadership, Terrorism, Authority, Terrorism research, Terrorist leadership
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
Scholars have long recognized that leaders are crucial to the success of many different types of
social and political movements (e.g. Klandermans, 1992; McAdam, 1982, p. 47; Tarrow, 1998;
Willner, 1984; Zald and Ash, 1966). Yet, in the words of James Burns (1978, p. 2), “leadership is
one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth.”Despite the existence of a
varied body of literature on leadership, there has been little theoretical advancement and there
remains a paucity of conceptual models and frameworks that can comprehensively explain
the dynamics of leader-follower relationships across the myriad of disciplines interested in the
phenomenon (Burns, 1978, p. 3; Morris and Staggenborg, 2007, p. 190). This weakness
extends to terrorism studies, where relevant theoretical and empirical studies also remain sparse
(see Dalgaard-Nielsen, 2010, p. 808; Dawson, 2010, pp. 14-16; Gupta, 2008, p. 71; Hofmann
and Dawson, 2014, pp. 362-363). With few exceptions (e.g. Abrahms and Potter 2015;
Freeman, 2014; Hofmann, 2015; Ingram, 2013), current terrorism research is limited to passing
interest in the dynamics of leadership within th e frameworks of larger case studies
(e.g. Juergensmeyer, 2003; Nesser, 2009; Stern, 2003), or has been blinded by “great (wo)
man”theories of leadership which emphasize the importance and magnitude of individual
Received 14 September 2016
Revised 25 December 2016
Accepted 24 February 2017
David C. Hofmann is an
Assistant Professor at the
Department of Sociology,
University of New Brunswick,
Fredericton, Canada.
PAGE208
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JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGICAL RESEARCH, POLICY AND PRACTICE
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VOL. 3 NO. 3 2017, pp.208-221, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2056-3841 DOI 10.1108/JCRPP-09-2016-0018
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