This paper focuses at the impact of the structure of a terrorist group on their capacity to commit acts of terrorism. While terrorism scholars as well as policy-makers often believe successful acts of terrorism are dependent on material resources, such as financial assets, technological skills and access to arms, this limited focus fails to grasp the subtle complexities in organizing a terrorist act. The organizational structure determines how the roles, power and responsibilities are assigned, controlled and coordinated. Consequently, any structural pattern influences the strategic control over acts of terrorism as well as the operational and tactical vulnerabilities with regards to acts of terrorism. This theoretical paper will analyse the essential components of any organizational structure, namely ‘members’, ‘rules’, ‘hierarchy’, ‘monitoring’ and ‘sanctioning’, and their respective impact on the structural capacity of a terrorist organization.
