Terrorist leaders are themselves tightly constrained by group norms and ideology

Evidence

Verba (1961, p. 149) notes that while followers depend on their leaders, the reverse also holds: “The conflict between directing the group and maintaining one’s acceptance by the group would seem to be the unique problem of the group leader.” Leaders must spend as much time maintaining the group as in achieving instrumental goals. This balance is easier to attain when the leader is perceived as acting as an agent of impersonal forces and in the service of group norms (Verba, 1961, pp. 172–175). In terrorist as in revolutionary organizations, the ideological purity of the leader must be above question; the leader must be the chief interpreter and communicator of the group’s beliefs and aims. Leaders are, thus, under great pressure to conform to group norms, making innovation or compromise difficult. Since the external power sources of terrorist leaders are surely few, their position depends on their interpretation of group goals and efficient direction of terrorist operations. In effect, the behavior of both leaders and followers is restricted by the terrorist group. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4158

Categorization

• XREF: Reverses the common image of the all-powerful terrorist mastermind; parallels Milgram’s insight that authority figures too are subject to the system. — connects to: Terrorist leaders are constrained to ideological conformity by their followers’ expectations. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 4158