Introducing a new dataset on Designated Terrorist Organizations (DTO)

• Main Authors: Tominaga, Yasutaka, Lee, Chia-yi, Lyu, Mengting
• Other Authors: S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Social sciences::Political science; Terrorism; Terrorist Designation
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/164029
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This article introduces a new dataset, Designated Terrorist Organizations (DTO), which details every terrorist organization designated or sanctioned by two IGOs and 148 state governments, as well as the timing of each designation. The DTO includes 281 terrorist groups that have been officially designated by at least one IGO or state government as well as 223 other active terrorist groups that have never been designated. The DTO has a dyadic structure that offers information on both the designating country and the designated group, such as the base location and past activities. We present some trends and patterns of terrorist designation over time and across countries and apply the DTO to analyze the impact of terrorist designation on groups’ attacks. Our preliminary findings show that terrorist designation is negatively associated with terrorist attacks, although the effect only appears in an earlier period.