Is Terrorism a “Weapon of the Weak”? The Evidence Says No

For scholars and policymakers who work on terrorism, the notion that terrorism is a weapon of the weak is such strong conventional wisdom that it is practically a cliché. But a systematic look at whether weaker groups are more likely to use terrorism than stronger ones debunks this idea. In a recent study examining all rebel organizations from 1970–2013, and measuring their strength in lots of different ways, researchers found virtually no evidence that weaker groups are more likely than stronger ones to use terrorism.

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