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Killing for the sake of infamy: The herostratos syndrome and what to do about it

  • Jean Paul Azam
  • , Mario Ferrero

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The Herostratos syndrome affects some people who perpetrate odious attacks for the sake of infamy. We suggest that this sheds some useful light to explain the wave of mass killing going on in Europe and North America, including school shootings and Jihadist terrorism, within a game-theoretic framework. The analysis points out that policies aimed at countering this type of violence should focus on trivializing these attacks and reducing the publicity that they get in the media.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)357-364
Number of pages8
JournalPeace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy
Volume22
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2016
Externally publishedYes

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  1. SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
    SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Keywords

  • Herostratos syndrome
  • Mass killing
  • Terrorism

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