Introducing Transnational Terrorist Hostage Event (TTHE) Data Set, 1978 to 2018

• Date: 01 February 2021
• DOI: 10.1177/0022002720957714
• Published date: 01 February 2021
• Author: Wukki Kim,Todd Sandler,Justin George
• Subject Matter: Data Feature

Data Feature

Introducing Transnational

Terrorist Hostage Event

(TTHE) Data Set,

1978 to 2018

Wukki Kim

1

, Justin George

2

, and Todd Sandler

3

Abstract

This paper introduces transnational terrorist hostage event (TTHE) data set from

1978 to 2018. TTHE includes up to 50 variables for each of its 1,974 incidents, based

on information in media sources. Four types of hostage incidents—kidnappings,

barricade missions, skyjackings, and non-aerial hijackings—are recorded for a global

sample. Select key variables include the number of hostages, targets of abductors’

demands, terrorist behavior in negotiations, amount of money ransom demands,

other kinds of demands, duration of incident, and the outcome of negotiations. Our

hostage data set also indicates location start and end, attack force size, victim

numbers, casualties, weapons used, and logistical outcome. TTHE is tied to the

International Terrorism: Attributes of Terrorist Events (ITERATE). We display

interesting features of hostage incidents over time and an application of TTHE to

identify the determinants of logistical and negotiation successes for hostage missions.

Keywords

transnational terrorist hostage events, hostage-taking trends, logistical and

negotiation successes, post-2006 changes in hostage taking

1

Department of Economics and Law, Korea Military Academy, Seoul, Republic of Korea

2

Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, Ann Arbor, MI,

USA

3

School of Economic, Political & Policy Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA

Corresponding Author:

Todd Sandler, School of Economic, Political & Policy Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W.

Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 7508, USA.

Email: tsandler@utdallas.edu

Journal of Conflict Resolution

2021, Vol. 65(2-3) 619-641

ªThe Author(s) 2020

Article reuse guidelines:

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DOI: 10.1177/0022002720957714

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In the realm of terrorism, hostage-taking incidents generally exert a disproportionate

effect in influencing an audience for a political goal. Clearly, the four hijackings of

wide-bodied commercial jetliners on September 11, 2001 (henceforth, 9/11) not only

caused unprecedented loss of lives (almost 3,000), but also resulted in security

changes that continue to affect our lives. Past hostage-taking terrorist attacks include

many newsworthy events—e.g. the kidnapping of Aldo Moro in Rome on March 16,

1978; the kidnapping of Brigadier General James Dozier in Verona on December 17,

1981; the kidnapping of William Buckley in Beirut on March 16, 1984; the hijacking

of TWA flight 847 departing Athens on June 14, 1985; the kidnapping of Nicholas

Berg in Iraq on April 10, 2004; and the barricade and hostage mission of the Beslan

middle school in North Ossetia, Russi a on September 1, 2004 (Mickolus 1980;

Mickolus, Sandler, and Murdock 1989; Mickolus and Simmons 2005). Each of these

hostage events is a landmark case—e.g. Moro had been a past Italian Prime Minister;

General Dozier had been Deputy Chief of Staff of NATO’ s Southern European

Command; and Buckley had been CIA station chief in Beirut. The Moro and Dozier

kidnappings eventually led to the downfall of the Italian Red Brigades, while the

Buckley kidnapping gave rise to the Irangate scandal during the Reagan adminis-

tration. Nicholas Berg, a freelance contractor working in Iraq, was kidnapped and

beheaded in reaction to public revelations in April 2004 about US abuse of prisoners

at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison—other kidnappings and beheadings followed during the

next sixteen years. The TWA hijacking lasted for over two weeks with two and three

landings in Algiers and Beirut, respectively. Throughout its tense drama, that sky-

jacking captured media attention worldwide. The Beslan middle school seizure by

Chechen rebels eventually resulted in over 300 deaths. Other high-profile hostage

incidents involve the capture of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics on Septem-

ber 5, 1972; the hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship on October 7, 1985; and

the abduction of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan on January 23,

2002. Mr. Pearl was later beheaded.

Terrorist hostage-taking missions are not only very costly but are also quite risky

for the perpetrators. From a logistical vantage, a successful hostage abduction takes

lots more planning and resources than planting a bomb, which represents terrorists’

favorite mode of attack (Hoffman 2006). Once hostages are secured, they must be

maintained, and this is a resource-intensive operation for a kidnapping with its own

risk of discovery. Negotiations are costly and present yet further risks. Given high

costs, terrorists must perceive a reasonable likelihood of large gains in terms of

media attention, potential concessions, and subsequent recruitment if they are to

engage in such abductions. Even though hostage-taking attacks are the least used

terrorist operation, hostage abductions are still employed when the calculus justifies

them (Enders and Sandler 2012). The study of hostage incidents allows for tests of

bargaining theory (Atkinson, Sandler, and Tschirhart 1 987), the determinants of

logistical and negotiation success (Gaibulloev and Sandler 2009; Santifort and

Sandler 2013), an analysis of terrorist reputation building (Scott 1991), an evaluation

of no-concession pledges (Arin et al. 2019; Brandt, George, and Sandler 2016;

620 Journal of Conflict Resolution 65(2-3)