Leadership Decapitation

Jenna Jordan is Associate Professor of International Affairs at Georgia Tech.

• 1. Introduction2. A Theory of Organizational Resilience3. Hypotheses on Leadership Decapitation4. Is Leadership Decapitation Effective?5. Hamas: Bureaucracy, Social Services, and Local Support6. The Shining Path: The Organization and Support of a Left-Wing Group7. Al-Qaeda: Religious Ideology and Organizational Resilience8. Conclusion

"Jenna Jordan's outstanding analysis bucks the prevailing view that we can kill our way to the end of Islamist terrorism. She skillfully demonstrates how targeting hundreds of terrorist leaders can be a short-term tactic with deep strategic drawbacks. Ever wondered why, decades later, the United States is still fighting an interminable 'global war on terrorism'? Read this excellent book."—Audrey Kurth Cronin, American University "Jenna Jordan has written a superb book about the consequences of decapitating the leadership of terrorist organizations. She provides a neat theory and an abundance of evidence, which together make a compelling case that successful decapitation rarely harms the organization itself, and that includes the two groups the United States cares the most about: al-Qaeda and ISIS."—John J. Mearsheimer, R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago "This timely book lends convincing and important evidence to the leadership decapitation debate. Jenna Jordan exposes the need for a comprehensive strategy if we are to successfully defeat terrorist organizations."—Ali Soufan, Chief Executive Officer of The Soufan Group, Founder of The Soufan Center, and former FBI supervisory special agent "Jordon's study will be important for those studying or involved in making political policy. Highly recommended."—D. McIntosh, CHOICE "Jordan's book is a major contribution to the literature, and she should be recognized for her valuable research and commitment to bringing empirical evidence to bear on such a hotly contested issue. She deftly illustrates that removing high-value targets is not a panacea and, as the central focus of her book, examines when decapitation works, when it does not, and what accounts for variation across cases."—Colin Clarke, War on the Rocks