Much of the research on al-Qaeda, its affiliates, and on Arab Islamic terrorist groups has relied on two organizations approaches: hierarchical order and networks. However, neither approach accounts for the structure or mode of operation of al-Qaeda as a global terrorist organization. This paper introduces a new typology of terrorist organizations, the concept of the Dune organization. The Dune organization provides an effective tool for the conceptualization and analysis of al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda conceptualized as a Dune organization has a structure and activities that rely on a strategy of territorial disappearance and lack of imminent institutional presence. This conceptualization leads to a new typology of Islamic terrorist organizations which concentrates on organizational behavior patterns and provides a framework for a comparative analysis of terrorist movements which is applied to a study of al-Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist groups. References