The Effectiveness of Counterterrorism in Spain: A New Approach

Scholars have recently renewed their interest in the effectiveness of government counterterrorism policies. Although research tends to examine the efficacy of either repressive counterterrorist tactics or more conciliatory policies, the relative effectiveness of these tactics has yet to be fully examined. In this study, we develop an original data set to explore which counterterrorism tactics have been effective against ETA in Spain over a five year period (1988-1992). The data set is unique in its use of machine coding software to develop granular data on tactical level government actions. A secondary goal of the paper is thus to develop a framework that can be exported to other cases.