Price and the Decapitation of Terrorist Groups

Price’s main argument, if a terrorist organization is ‘decapitated’, it will eventually die out, is based upon the idea leadership is essential to a terrorist organization. To apply such a specific theory to such a wide range of groups with varying organizational structure, goals, etc. is bold to say the least. Returning to the question, Price would argue leadership is more important in terrorist organizations because if it were not true then his theory would be false as well. I do not find Price convincing because of this, that his theory for which he argues for is based on an idea which may or not be true. In specific instances such as Al Qaeda his theory might hold true where it was very evident the decapitated group was no longer effective. But there are too many different terrorist groups for this theory to always hold true. Further, Price never specifies the test group for his research which leaves too much uncertainty in the consistency of his theory. He does note leadership decapitation is effective only when the leader is essential. From this note an interesting correlation arises between the effectiveness of leadership decapitation and the effectiveness of the leader. I will admit terrorist organization, by their nature, are more susceptible to failure following decapitation but only in the most general sense. Terrorist groups are often formed with an ideal in mind whether it be politically, socially, religiously, etc. based. Often times their leaders are charismatic which attracts followers, but even after their deaths the ideals of the group can still stand. For a time a terrorist group might experience a decline in power but it does not necessarily mean they are defeated. Price’s idea is interesting and holds some truth, but there is too little evidence to support mostly due to its scope.  Additionally, it could produce potentially harmful errors in underestimating the strength of a terrorist group.