Terrorist Peer Review: Which Autonomous Attacks Does ISIL Accept for Publication?

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claims some attacks by autonomous jihadists in the West, but not all of them. This article argues that ISIL selectively takes credit for attacks that fit tactical norms laid out in the group’s propaganda. These norms include lethality toward the victims and martyrdom for the assailant. Probit regression analyses of a new database of autonomous attacks in the West confirm that lethality and martyrdom increase the probability of ISIL’s official propaganda claiming a given incident. The Islamic State’s “peer review” and selective credit-claiming incentivize autonomous jihadists to adopt more lethal and suicidal tactics so that their actions will gain acceptance and they will be recognized as soldiers of the caliphate.