Introduction

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Abstract
Why do insurgent organizations attack Americans? Do organizations that do so continue to thrive, or do they tend to decline? This introductory chapter describes the book’s central thesis, the scope conditions of the thesis, key contributions, and methodology. Motivations for insurgent attacks on Americans fall into two broad categories: direct and indirect. Direct motivations are those in which insurgents seek to directly harm Americans. Indirect motivations are those in which insurgents believe they can raise their public profile by attacking Americans. Our study brings three key contributions to the literature. First, we delineate between insurgency and terrorism, noting that most analyses of anti-American violence focus on the latter at the expense of the former. Our analysis, then, is one of the first to explore anti-American violence by insurgents. Second, our level of analysis is that of the insurgent organization, rather than individual attacks or countries in which attacks occur. Third, we analyze the consequences for insurgent groups that attack Americans. Our findings show that insurgent violence against Americans is a complex phenomenon, but that organizations that commit such attacks become even more violent over time and more likely to survive. Methodologically, we pursue a mix of quantitative and qualitative techniques. Our main findings are supported by statistical analyses on a global sample of insurgent organizations. These findings are contextualized and illustrated with four case studies.