| Abstract |
Studies examining terrorism assume incidents and groups are independent. We identify when terrorist groups share choices over target locations. These conditions demonstrate convergent decision-making and implicit networks. Using a two-mode network analytics approach to analyze Islamic terrorism in India between 1990 and 2015, we find that violent target locations occur in clusters. The most central targets of violence are Srinagar and New Delhi, which have high strategic and political value. Our approach: 1) demonstrates that cluster analysis can assist in identifying group aliases, 2) identifies unexpected locations for violence that may indicate the involvement of external factors, facilitating counter terrorism efforts, and 3) provides a tool for identifying the underlying structures of global terrorism. |