Abstrakt: |
Terrorism carries high audience costs for militant leaders because the attacks on civilians risk tarnishing the entire group as immoral extremists. Image-savvy militant leaders reduce the reputational fallout to the group whenever members commit terrorism. Specifically, the leaders distance their organization from civilian attacks by denying them. In this paper, I identify two types of denial strategies regularly employed by militant leaders, their effectiveness for image restoration, and how Islamic State paid a price for failing to employ them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |