Abstract
This paper introduces transnational terrorist hostage event (TTHE) data set from 1978 to 2018. TTHE includes up to 50 variables for each of its 1,974 incidents, based on information in media sources. Four types of hostage incidents—kidnappings, barricade missions, skyjackings, and non-aerial hijackings—are recorded for a global sample. Select key variables include the number of hostages, targets of abductors’ demands, terrorist behavior in negotiations, amount of money ransom demands, other kinds of demands, duration of incident, and the outcome of negotiations. Our hostage data set also indicates location start and end, attack force size, victim numbers, casualties, weapons used, and logistical outcome. TTHE is tied to the International Terrorism: Attributes of Terrorist Events (ITERATE). We display interesting features of hostage incidents over time and an application of TTHE to identify the determinants of logistical and negotiation successes for hostage missions.
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