al-Baghdadi, Leadership Targeting and the Future of ISIS

With the recent death of ISIS leader Abū Bakr al-Baghdadi, attention has been focused on what this means for the future of the group he led. But what does the current evidence suggest about the effects of killing militant leaders?

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGvep_E1Owk 

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Jordan, Jenna. Leadership decapitation of terrorist organizations. Stanford University Press, 2019.

 

 

Price, Bryan C. "Targeting top terrorists: How leadership decapitation contributes to counterterrorism." International Security 36, no. 4 (2012): 9-46.

 

Johnston, Patrick B. "Does decapitation work? Assessing the effectiveness of leadership targeting in counterinsurgency campaigns." International Security 36, no. 4 (2012): 47-79.

 

Phillips, Brian J. "How does leadership decapitation affect violence? The case of drug trafficking organizations in Mexico." The Journal of Politics 77, no. 2 (2015): 324-336.