Despite the level of prominence that terrorism currently plays in global affairs, researchers and policymakers continue to struggle with trying to understand, predict and counteract the behavior of terrorist organizations. This dissertation utilized Geographic Information System (GIS) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) research methodologies in an assessment of individual terrorist attacks conducted by 20 of the most active terrorist organizations during the years 1996 -- 2015 to determine how the social environmental conditions -- dimensions of governance, social polarization, and social disorganization -- within the host counties of terrorist organizations relates to the typology of these organizations in terms of the degree to which they display abstract/universal characteristics. In addition, an evaluation was made into how terrorist organizations manifesting a high degree abstract/universal characteristics is able to predict their lethality as defined by the number of injuries and fatalities that resulted in individual terrorist attacks. The findings from GIS analyses showed that there are connections between the social environmental conditions within the host country of a terrorist organization and the typology of that organization. The results from SEM analyses suggested that social environmental conditions within a country are associated with the type of terrorist organization that is able to operate in that country. In addition, abstract/universal terrorist organizations were found to be more lethal in individual attacks than politically motivated organizations. These results indicate that public policy should aim to improve the social environment within host countries and counteract terrorism on an ideological level.