Deconstituting al-Qa'ida: CCO Theory and the Decline and Dissolution of Hidden Organizations. (November 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bean, Hamilton; Buikema, Ronald J.
• Other Names: Scott Craig R. guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Management communication quarterly. Volume 29:Number 4(2015:Nov.)
• Page Start: 512
• Page End: 538
• Publication Date: 2015-11
• Subjects: hidden organizations -- al-Qa'ida -- communicative constitution of organization -- counterterrorism -- organizational decline; Communication in management -- Periodicals; Communication in organizations -- Periodicals; 658.4505
• DOI: 10.1177/0893318915597300
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0893-3189

Abstract

This study reconceptualizes the decline and dissolution of hidden organizations using the four flows model of constitutive communication. Analyzing internal al-Qa'ida documents captured during the 2011 U.S. raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that killed Osama Bin Laden, this study explains how losses of control over the flows of membership negotiation, self-structuring, activity coordination, and institutional positioning have both reflected and reinforced al-Qa'ida's decline. Interventions inspired by a communicative constitution of organization (CCO) perspective are proposed as a way to accelerate al-Qa'ida's dissolution. The implications of the four flows model for both counterterrorism strategy and theorizing hidden organizations are discussed.