FINDINGS

     Table 1 presents univariate analysis on the dependant and independent variables. 

          Table 1:  Frequencies (N=409)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As indicated, 35% were successful, while 65% of the assassinations were not successful.  Assassinations committed in countries characterized by minority hostility occurred 7.8% of the time, while 92.2% of the attacks occurred in countries that lacked minority hostility.  Legitimate authority figures were the most frequent target of attempt with 81.4% of the targets falling into this classification.  Charismatic authority figures that were targeted consisted of 10.5% of the targets, while traditional figures made up only 7.1% of the targets in this study.  The most common country status where assassinations occurred were third world countries, where 73.3% of all assassination attempts and successes occurred.  First world countries housed 14.4% of all attacks, while 12.0% of attempts occurred in second world countries.  Collateral damage did not occur frequently with 90.0% of all attempts resulting in no wounds to bystanders.  In 9% of all attempts, one individual was wounded in the attack, while the remaining .9% of all assassination attempts and successes resulted in the wounding of a number of individuals, between 2 and 5 in those cases.  Political tension was present in 95.6% of all attempts, while non-political forms of tension were involved in 4.4% of all attacks.

Table 2 presents bivariate analysis on all independent variables.