Major
Political Science
Anticipated Graduation Year
2023
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
Between 1970 and 2019, the Global Terrorism Database identified 555 terrorist attacks against U.S. diplomatic missions. Using qualitative and quantitative techniques, I analyze this data to address why terrorists target U.S. diplomatic missions, the security impact these acts of terror have on those missions, and how terrorists respond to the changing security environment. I find terrorists strategically targeted U.S. diplomats between 1970 and 1998 because they are softer targets than military options yet still high profile. In response, the U.S. slowly improved diplomatic security with the 1998 East African Embassy bombings serving as a major turning point. Terrorists responded to increased security by adapting their target selection to softer targets - civilians. As a result, when terrorism spiked in 2011, there was no corresponding increase in the number of attacks against U.S. diplomats.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Dr. Michael Schumacher, Department of Political Science
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Violent Mediation: A Study of the Impact of Terrorism in US Diplomacy
Between 1970 and 2019, the Global Terrorism Database identified 555 terrorist attacks against U.S. diplomatic missions. Using qualitative and quantitative techniques, I analyze this data to address why terrorists target U.S. diplomatic missions, the security impact these acts of terror have on those missions, and how terrorists respond to the changing security environment. I find terrorists strategically targeted U.S. diplomats between 1970 and 1998 because they are softer targets than military options yet still high profile. In response, the U.S. slowly improved diplomatic security with the 1998 East African Embassy bombings serving as a major turning point. Terrorists responded to increased security by adapting their target selection to softer targets - civilians. As a result, when terrorism spiked in 2011, there was no corresponding increase in the number of attacks against U.S. diplomats.