In the face of an inflexible government policy, subsequent talks may seem to demonstrate that groups can “bomb their way” to the negotiating table. Likewise, for a fragile government coalition, negotiations may be so controversial that continued attacks are preferable to collapsed political support or even sectarian discord among factions within the state in response to concessions. Not uncommonly, governments prefer terrorist attacks that can be blamed on others to the disintegration of their own side: as painful as they might be, riding out terrorist attacks may be the least bad alternative
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