Date of Award
5-10-2019
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Political Science
First Advisor
Louis-Alexandre Berg
Second Advisor
Dan Altman
Third Advisor
John Horgan
Abstract
Are U.S. airstrikes on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula effective at reducing al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula initiated attacks? Airstrikes have been a popular counterterrorism tool in the Obama and Trump administrations. However, the effectiveness of airstrikes has been contentious. Using ACLED data from 2016-2019 I estimate a series of negative binomial regressions. I first assess the effect of airstrikes generally and find that airstrikes are effective at reducing AQAP attacks. I then disaggregate my airstrike variable to examine the effects of militant casualties, leadership casualties, and civilian casualties independently. I find that civilian casualties and leadership casualties have no effect on AQAP attacks while militant casualties have reduced AQAP attacks.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/14342204
Recommended Citation
Allen, Joshua, "Testing the Effects of US Airstrikes on Insurgent Initiated Violence in Yemen." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2019.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/14342204