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The lone wolf terrorist: sprees of violence

Author

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  • Phillips Peter J

    (School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Faculty of Business and Law, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, 4350. Telephone: 617 46315490)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to apply economic analysis to the opportunities and choices of single individual ‘lone wolf’ terrorists whose attacks are characterised by ‘sprees’ of violence, usually shooting sprees in public places, that last only for a relatively short period of time. The spree lone wolf also emerges suddenly. Having previously allocated no resources to terrorism, he suddenly and all at once allocates all of his resources, including time, to terrorism. The first step to providing guidance to governments and their law enforcement agencies is to encompass some important elements of the spree lone wolf’s opportunities and choices within an economic analytical framework. The first steps towards this are undertaken in this paper by exploring the opportunities and choices of the spree lone wolf from a risk-reward perspective and a treatment of the spree lone wolf as an individual who, while attempting to maximise his expected utility, shuns the risk-reduction benefits of ‘time diversification’ and suddenly plunges all of his resources into terrorism within a single time period. The analysis shows that such behaviour can be explained within an economic model of choice and clears the way for further theoretical analysis and empirical analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Phillips Peter J, 2012. "The lone wolf terrorist: sprees of violence," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 18(3), pages 1-3, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:pepspp:v:18:y:2012:i:3:p:1-3:n:9
    DOI: 10.1515/peps-2012-0010
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. repec:bpj:pepspp:v:18:y:2012:i:3:p:3:n:9 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Phillips Peter J, 2011. "Lone Wolf Terrorism," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(1), pages 1-31, March.
    3. Landes, William M, 1978. "An Economic Study of U.S. Aircraft Hijacking, 1961-1976," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(1), pages 1-31, April.
    4. Sandler, Todd & Tschirhart, John T. & Cauley, Jon, 1983. "A Theoretical Analysis of Transnational Terrorism," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 77(1), pages 36-54, March.
    5. Sandler, Todd & Enders, Walter, 2004. "An economic perspective on transnational terrorism," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 301-316, June.
    6. Kroll, Yoram & Levy, Haim & Markowitz, Harry M, 1984. "Mean-Variance versus Direct Utility Maximization," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(1), pages 47-61, March.
    7. Levy, H & Markowtiz, H M, 1979. "Approximating Expected Utility by a Function of Mean and Variance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 69(3), pages 308-317, June.
    8. Peter Phillips, 2009. "Applying Modern Portfolio Theory To The Analysis Of Terrorism. Computing The Set Of Attack Method Combinations From Which The Rational Terrorist Group Will Choose In Order To Maximise Injuries And Fat," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 193-213.
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    Cited by:

    1. Caroline Joan S. Picart, 2015. "“Jihad Cool/Jihad Chic”: The Roles of the Internet and Imagined Relations in the Self-Radicalization of Colleen LaRose (Jihad Jane)," Societies, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-30, April.
    2. repec:bpj:pepspp:v:18:y:2012:i:3:p:3:n:9 is not listed on IDEAS

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