Was America’s assassination of Qassem Suleimani justified?
Posted January 7, 2020
External Article: Economist
Sam Nunn School of International Affairs Associate Professor Jenna Jordan's book Leadership Decapitation: Strategic Targeting of Terrorist Organizations was cited in the Economist article, "Was America’s assassination of Qassem Suleimani justified?"
Read an excerpt:
Yet the idea of organisational decapitation remains seductive to would-be strategic assassins: cut off the leader and watch the body twitch through its death throes. In a book published last November, Jenna Jordan of the Georgia Institute of Technology examines more than 1,000 cases involving the killing or capture of leaders of terrorist or insurgent groups. She says three factors contribute to a group’s resilience afterwards: its degree of bureaucracy, ability to draw on local resources and ideological zeal. These qualities ensure that its mission does not depend on a single leader.
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