Terrorism's Operational Code: An Examination of the Belief Systems of al-Qaeda and Hamas

Abstract

This dissertation is a systematic study of the political belief systems, via the Operational Code approach, of two terrorist actors: al-Qaeda and Hamas. Operational codes for each were derived through computerized content analysis of statements attributed to both organizations. The resulting indices were compared across each organization and to the indices of a norming group of state leaders. Additional analyses were performed on internal subdivisions and across chronologic statement groupings for each. The results of these comparisons indicated that the Operational Code approach provides a valuable means of linking differences in terrorist behavior and motivation to differences in belief systems. It also provides a means for the tracking of group beliefs over time and for evaluating internal belief system differences. Additionally, by comparison of observed operational code values to expected values informed by commonly held assumptions within the field of terrorism studies, the Operational Code approach provides a means of testing the basic validity of those assumptions.