Understanding SuicideAttackers

An Interdisciplinary Approach

Tristan Johnson

11/25/2013

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On September 11th, the west experienced firsthand the

horrific reality of the suicide attacks that plague the Middle

East. This phenomenon has sparked a flood of interest in both the

region and the underlying causes behind such attacks. What

motivates a usually young man to end his life prematurely in an

act of mass murder?

The predominant theory is that this is an effect of their

theology. Their faith in Islam is what makes these people able to

destroy their own lives, usually for rewards in the afterlife.

Given the rhetoric of these attackers, and the politicians in the

region this is the first guess one might make as to this

perplexing mystery. This, however, does not stand up to scrutiny.

Scholars have studied the mystery of the suicide attacker in many

fields, and while they brought forward a plethora of

explanations, none seem to point to religion as a major cause.

This paper will investigate different theories as to the real

motivations behind their attacks, and attempt to begin an

interdisciplinary explanation which has so far been locked away

in different intellectual silos. The political scientists,

economists, military theorists, psychologists, and sociologists

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have all put forward valid motivating factors for suicide

attackers that need to be assembled into a complete picture.

The Religion Approach

Because of the prevalence of religious rhetoric in middle

eastern politics and in the groups that commit many suicide

attacks, many influential political speakers in the west resist

the ability to reason with them on the basis that their

motivation is simple religious zealotry. People such as Michael

Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute have posited that

American imperialism was not a factor.1 They argue that a hatred

of the liberal, democratic lifestyle of the west, fueled by a

sanctified holy war is what motivates these suicide attackers. In

the Islamic world, religion and politics cannot be separated.2

In Israel, the Palestinians who commit these attacks do so

in the frame of an eternal struggle between Judaism and Islam.3

Terrorist leaders then promise the suicide attackers rewards in1 Andrea Smith, "Bedfellows at the Interfaith Zionist Leadership Summit; With God on Our Side,"Against the Current, 4 (2003): 5, p.52 Simon Haddad, "A Comparative Study of Lebanese and Palestinian Perceptions of Suicide Bombings: The Role of Militant Islam and Socio-Economic Status,"International Journal of ComparativeSociology, no. 5 (2004): 337-363, p.3553 Mark Tessler, and Michael D H Robbins, "What Leads Some Ordinary Arab Men and Women to Approve of Terrorist Acts Against the United States?,"Journal of Conflict Resolution, no. 2 (2007): 305-328, p.307

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the afterlife to incentivise the attacks. One Shayk working for

one of the major Islamic studies centers in Cairo claimed that

those who committed attacks by Hamas against Israeli citizens in

1995 would achieve paradise. Some have argued that this has

motivated more suicide attacks, determining it as a fatwa or a

religious legal decision.4 The same factors, according to this

argument, motivated the infamous September 11th hijackers:

…the attacks of September 11 were acts of religious devotion-a formof worship, conducted in God's name and in accordance with hiswishes. The enemy was the infidel; the opposing ideology, "Westernculture."That religious motivation, colored by a messianism and insome cases an apocalyptic vision of the future, distinguishes al-Qaida and its affiliates from conventional terrorists groups such asthe Irish Republican Army, the Red Brigades, or even the PalestineLiberation Organization. Although secular political interests helpdrive al-Qaida's struggle for power, these interests are understoodand expressed in religious terms.5

What stands out in particular is that last line. Terrorists

often explain attacks such as suicide attacks in religious

terminology. It would be tempting, at first glance, to take them

at their word on this, but it would be misleading. Religious

terminology is a powerful rhetorical tool in the discourse of

Middle Eastern politics, and so should be investigated for its

real intent.4 Roberto Marin-Guzman, "FANATICISM: A MAJOR OBSTACLE IN THE MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN DIALOGUE. THECASE OF TWENTIETH CENTURY ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM,"Arab Studies Quarterly, no. 3 (2003): 63-965 Steven Simon, "The new terrorism," The Brookings Review, no. 1 (2003): 18-24

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While this might show a real dedication to their belief in

Islam, the prevalence of religious rhetoric is a politically

motivated move. Many nations use religious language as a way to

boost their legitimacy as states and rulers. Shari’a has its

secular uses in the Middle East as well. It functions as a

resonant accountability mechanism. Islamists, such as the Muslim

Brotherhood often espouse this; a group that has a religious

basis for their politics, but as a method of rhetorical power and

reinforcement of legitimacy.

Ever since the Second World War, the new states in the

Middle East have competed with one another in their rhetorical

devotion to the Arabic people and the Islamic faith. For a while,

this coupled with a dedication to the destruction of the state of

Israel. This is to establish a sense of legitimacy to their

reign. Some nations in the region that were less religious, such

as the Iranian Shah, were overthrown and transformed into

religious governments. It also acts as a way to get resources

from other nations such as cash, weapons, and fighters.6 Another

example of this was with the Islamic leader Jaafar Muhammad al-6 Monica Toft, "Getting Religion? The Puzzling Case of Islam and Civil War," International Security, no. 4 (2007): 97-131, p.111

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Nimeiri who overthrew the civilian government of Sudan in 1969.

Part of his legitimization amongst the Sudanese Muslims and to

get support from the nearby Arab world was to denounce the

existence of Israel and establish its religious foothold. Though

the Arab world would attempt to destroy Israel on several

occasions, they were forced to give up. They relegated anti-

Israeli rhetoric to a political tool. This has led to a climate

of increasingly anti-Israeli rhetoric as well as stronger and

more conservative Islamic-based policies in the Middle East; 7 a

process called religious outbidding. It buttresses their

legitimacy as states and quiets clerical opposition to their

regimes. This results in a slowing of the move to modernity.8

Their legitimacy is, however, threatened by the Islamist

movement, and the counterbalance of Shari’a.

Islamism is an ideology that fires off red lights in the

west by their overtly religious rhetoric as well. Their ideology

uses their religion, specifically the divine law code Shari’a, as

an accountability mechanism in these secular dictatorships. Noah

7 ibid, p.1208 Steven Simon, "The new terrorism," The Brookings Review, no. 1 (2003): 18-24

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Feldman’s The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State is an excellent account of

the genesis of this. He explains that Shari’a, before the

Tanzimat reforms,9 acted as a counterbalance to the power of the

Ottoman emperor. That system led to the long period of stability

and prosperity in the Middle East during the Middle-Ages. The

breakdown of this system, Feldman posits, led to unchecked

expansion of the executive and the decline of the empire. This

unchecked executive was the model of governments put into power

as the empire collapsed after the First World War. Islamism and

Islamist rhetoric, therefore, is a desire to bring back that

counterbalance to these dictators across the region. The concern

then comes in, and legitimately so, that this political Islam

fosters popular support for terrorism and suicide attackers as

actions in the name of Islam.10 However, that is a tool of

rhetoric to legitimize and build support for, but not motivate

these suicide attacks.

9 The Tanzimat reforms were part of a codification of Shari’a by the Ottoman Empire.10 Mark Tessler, and Michael D H Robbins, "What Leads Some Ordinary Arab Men and Women to Approve of Terrorist Acts Against the United States?,"Journal of Conflict Resolution, no. 2 (2007): 305-328, p.308

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The Political Science Approach

The prevailing argument in popular politics is that anti-

western sentiment motivates suicide attackers, and by extension a

hatred of the western liberal, permissive society. A study

conducted by Robert Pape in 2003 of 188 suicide attackers negates

this. He observed that there was no link to religious motives and

that political and strategic goals were more likely. Suicide

attacks are a form of warfare that serve to coerce foreign troops

from the land they are occupying.11 In 2006, he argued that since

religion is fairly static, but trends of suicide attacks come in

measurable waves, that some other event triggers them.12 These

groups perceive occupations from the west and particularly blame

on United States and Israel.

The crux of all of these sentiments is western violation of

their sovereignty. This blatant western intervention, from the

Great Game13 to the Iraq war, is undeniably connected to the

11 Simon Haddad, "A Comparative Study of Lebanese and Palestinian Perceptions of Suicide Bombings: The Role of Militant Islam and Socio-Economic Status,"International Journal of ComparativeSociology, no. 5 (2004): 337-363, p. 338, 35612 Shaun Best, "Liquid Terrorism: Altruistic Fundamentalism in the Context of Liquid Modernity," Sociology, no. 4 (2010): 678-694, p.68313 This is a reference to the 19th century competition over spheres of influence in central asia between Russia and Great Britain.

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sectarian violence in the Middle East today.14 In a modern

context, this is heavily committed by the United States. Many in

Al-Qaeda see the US military presence in the Persian Gulf as

veiled colonialism and the lynchpin of Islamic terrorism.15 The

other key issue with the United States is their unwavering

support of Israel. The loss of the wars against Israel combined

with this unquestioning support manifests as social rage that is

then denoted as fundamentalism.16 Since the Second World War, the

United States has established Israeli security exceptionalism.

The Islamic world expresses resentment at Western leaders who

allowed this violation of their sovereignty in establishing

Israel, and then lecture them today about the virtues of

tolerance and peace.17 This frames the long history of grievances

and the anti-western sentiment’s direct link with the

establishment and continued support of the state of Israel.

14 Phillip Benedict, Nora Berend, Stephen Ellis, Jeffrey Kaplan, Ussama Makdisi, and Jack Miles, "AHR Conversation: Religious Identities and Violence,"The American Historical Review, no. 5(2007): 1432-1481, p. 145715 Shaun Best, "Liquid Terrorism: Altruistic Fundamentalism in the Context of Liquid Modernity," Sociology, no. 4 (2010): 678-694, p.68216 Mehdi Parvizi Amineh, and Henk Houweling, "IR-Theory and Transformation in the Greater Middle East: the Role of the United States," Perspectives on Global Development & Technology, 1, no. 3 (2007): 57-86, p.5917 ibid, p.86

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Far right Zionists, extremely influential in both America

and Israel often reiterate their divine mandate to their land

borders, and to some, expansion into the Palestinian conclave in

the West Bank. They argue that there are no such people as

Palestinians,18 and that these Arabs are occupying land that is

rightfully theirs. They argue that Jordan, while part of the

biblical Israel, contains an Arab-Palestinian population and

therefore should be considered the homeland of the Palestinian

people. All people are entitled to a national land, and that

Israel is Jewish by religious, historical, and security fiat.19

In a court of international law, religious claims to land are

specious at best, and a cursory study of the history of

indigenous peoples around the world would find the holes in the

denunciation of Palestinian cultural existence. This easily would

anger the Arab and Muslim populations in the region. This

movement does not directly influence military action but does

influence a creeping threat to the Palestinians in the West Bank.

If this denial of culture to the Palestinian people angered the

18 This is primarily argued by the Zionist far right by arguing that there is no Palestinianlanguage, religion, or culture.19 Andrea Smith, "Bedfellows at the Interfaith Zionist Leadership Summit; With God on Our Side,"Against the Current, 4 (2003): 5, p.5

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Arab world, their grievances over the settler movement make it

much worse.

Motivated by a perceived divine mandate, Israeli religious

nationalists have begun to move into and build homes illegally in

occupied Palestine. They believe deeply in the need for a Jewish

presence in the biblical land of Israel. Even Israeli politics

depicts this as a major hurdle to finding a solution to the

conflict that has been a pestilence on their nation since its

inception. Their unwillingness to make compromises on the

territory of Israel as a violation of Arab sovereignty halts the

peace process.20

This approach explains the legitimate grievances that might

motivate suicide attacker attacks, but is incomplete. It may

explain why there are attacks in general, but does not explain

the peculiar nature of suicide attacks. While this author would

argue that this is likely the reason suicide attackers take

action, context is needed to explain why they choose their method

20 Joyce Dalsheim, "On Demonized Muslims and Vilified Jews: Between Theory and Politics," Comparative Studies in Society and History, no. 3 (2010): 581-603.

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of attack and willingness to sacrifice their own lives for these

causes.

The Economic Approach

Some scholars have pointed to the economic problems of the

region as the source of The Middle East’s discontent. Many

countries in the Middle East suffer from low economic growth, low

wages, high unemployment, poor schooling, problematic

urbanization, decline of environmental resources like water, as

well as political alienation and hopelessness over the situation

with the Palestinians.21 Brian Burgoon argues in his 2006 article

On Welfare and Terror: Social Welfare Policies and Political-Economic Roots of

Terrorism, that violent acts like terrorism can be linked to

things such as economic insecurity, inequality, and poverty. The

economic prescription is to establish a welfare state in the

region, and move the rational choice away from forms of

extremism. The economic situation, and the helplessness fuels

what they would perceive as a defensive war.

21 Steven Simon, "The new terrorism," The Brookings Review, no. 1 (2003): 18-24

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This argument builds a little context as to the desperate

situation many in the Middle East face but is still incomplete.

If economic despair and defensive struggle were the causes of

suicide attackers, there would be more of them in different

regions. Furthermore, while this may explain some of the suicide

attacks, it far from covers the context. The suicide attackers of

the September 11th attacks were not poor and educated

individuals.22 Suicide attacks require some sort of strategic

merit, and something more than simple economic situation to

explain why these attacks in particular are used so often in the

region.

The Strategy Approach

Suicide attacks may just be the evolution of tactics in

ongoing conflicts against what terrorist groups would call an

occupying force. It could be described as part of the playbook of

asymmetric warfare. The unconventional strategies one uses when

facing a foe that is better equipped and has more resources. The

point is to exploit vulnerabilities, and terrorize the opponent

22 Yuval Neria, David Roe, Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, Hassan Mneimneh, Alana Balaban, and Randall Marshall, "The Al Qaeda 9/11 instructions: A study in the construction of religiousmartyrdom," Religion, 35, no. 1 (2005): 1-11, p.2

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into surrender rather than a conventional military victory.

Suicide attacks are an attempt to get around this asymmetry by

using a human being as the delivery mechanism rather than a

rocket or missile. Such groups will attempt to find any advantage

they can to at least partially equalize their chances. The

successes of some suicide attacks will then disseminate easier

between non-state groups (as they rarely fight each other and so

share these tactics more freely) and increase adoption locally.23

This might not necessarily be a strategic boon, but merely needs

to be perceived as one.

This approach gives much more insight into why suicide

attacks seems to come in waves, and give the rational reasons for

its use. IT does, however, not exactly explain why suicide is so

readily used by these attackers. Something needs to explain the

prevalence of this strategy beyond the possible tactical

advantage contributing to its proliferation.

The Psychology Approach

23 Michael C Horowitz, "Nonstate Actors and the Diffusion of Innovations: The Case of Suicide Terrorism,"International Organization, no. 1 (2010): 33-64, p.39, 42, 60

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A topic such as motivation ultimately relies on the

psychology of the created attacker. A few psychological studies

challenge the economic argument of the poor and alienated

becoming suicide attackers. The most famous example is that the

9/11 hijackers were rather well-off, and it appears to be par for

the course.24 Psychologists who analyze psychopathology tend to

describe suicide attackers as chaotic or irrational people who

fall under the influence of these terrorist group leaders. They

say that many want to die for personal reasons like an ordinary

suicide and that they may suffer from paranoia or depression. It

may be a way for the attacker to turn their life’s failings and

frustrations into glory and victory.25

The trouble with this is that it atomizes the problem and

reduces it to a clinical issue. Like the economic approach, this

analysis is problematic on the grounds that it is incomplete.

Research has shown that collectivist cultures like that of the

24 Mark Tessler, and Michael D H Robbins, "What Leads Some Ordinary Arab Men and Women to Approve of Terrorist Acts Against the United States?,"Journal of Conflict Resolution, no. 2 (2007): 305-328, p.31025 Shaun Best, "Liquid Terrorism: Altruistic Fundamentalism in the Context of Liquid Modernity," Sociology, no. 4 (2010): 678-694, p.682

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Middle East experience a higher rate of terrorism and higher

willingness to sacrifice oneself for the good of the group.26

The Cultural Approach

The cultural approach to suicide attacks yields a critical

angle in finding what makes a society that enables and supports

suicide attacks. Of primary interest is the distinction in

Islamic societies between suicide and martyrdom. In Islamic

teaching, regular suicide motivated by despair and depression is

called intihar and forbidden as is common to all Abrahamic

faiths. There is also shahada, or martyrdom, which represents the

giving of one’s life for the well-being of their community.27 It

is therefore imperative when looking at the suicide attacker

issue to not impose a western idea of suicide on the analysis.

This dimension of culture rings as the critical clue that

ties all of these approaches together. Under a reclassification,

the aspect of collectivist culture explains the acceptability of

suicide attacks, and with its efficacy, the proliferation of

26 Michele J Gelfand, Gary LaFree, Susan Fahey, and Emily Feinberg, "Culture and Extremism," Journal of Social Issues, 69, no. 3 (2013): 495-517, p. 500-50127 Simon Haddad, "A Comparative Study of Lebanese and Palestinian Perceptions of Suicide Bombings: The Role of Militant Islam and Socio-Economic Status,"International Journal of ComparativeSociology, no. 5 (2004): 337-363, p.341

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them. This is perhaps the hardest concept to understand from a

western point of view, leading to the psychological approach.

Towards an Interdisciplinary Understanding

The prevalence of suicide attackers in the Middle East comes

down to a contextual situation favourable to self-sacrifice and

desperate means, overlaid by a conflict that required

asymmetrical warfare to gain advantages as these attacks do.

Approaches such as the psychological and economical ones

displayed earlier are too atomized and incomplete. Their

approaches fail to acknowledge the role of the dynamic of

individualistic and collectivistic societies in their

explanations. The religious approach is a misunderstanding of the

rhetorical nature of politics in the region. Most favourable are

the cultural, strategic, and political science approaches.

The context of the society in which this takes place is

paramount. This society is collectivistic rather than

individualistic, and the Islamic world in particular emphasizes a

concept that reveres the practice for self-sacrifice for the good

of society. This cultural context creates a society that would be

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receptive to the concept of suicide attacks in a situation in

which their collective was under threat.

Enter into the picture then the political grievances

inflicted on the region from the west and Israel over the

centuries. The region perceived themselves as under invasion from

outsider forces that have vastly superior military capabilities.

This calls for a form of asymmetrical warfare to attempt to work

around their deficiencies. Suicide attacks work effectively, or

at least appear to, and with a context receptive to the idea of

martyrdom, its popularity comes as no surprise.

Conclusions

Different areas of research have attempted to investigate

this question of the suicide attacker, and developed their own

explanations within their own intellectual silos. When looked at

from an interdisciplinary perspective, some appear problematic,

and some emerge as useful but incomplete pictures of why these

attacks are so prevalent. The religious approach is a

misunderstanding of the rhetorical nature of the politics in the

region. Approaches such as the psychological and economical as

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displayed earlier are too atomized and incomplete. Their

approaches fail to acknowledge the role of the dynamic of

individualistic and collectivistic societies in their

explanations. The societal context of the region and its culture,

sparked by foreign intervention by a superior force seems to be

the roots of these attacks.

Since the September 11th attacks, research in suicide

attacks has increased in many fields. The problem with this is

that these fields are locked into their discipline’s

methodologies and scopes. To understand this complex phenomenon,

researchers need to analyze from various approaches and areas of

study. This attempt to use the literature of different fields

yielded that the major approaches were either misconstrued or

incomplete as a result of the narrow approach. Progressing

together, the many facets of suicide attacks take on a more

complete picture.

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Works Cited

Amineh, Mehdi Parvizi, and Henk Houweling. "IR-Theory and

Transformation in the Greater Middle East: the Role of the United

States." Perspectives on Global Development & Technology. no. 1-3 (2007):

57-86.

Benedict, Phillip, Nora Berend, Stephen Ellis, Jeffrey Kaplan,

Ussama Makdisi, and Jack Miles. "AHR Conversation: Religious

Identities and Violence."The American Historical Review. no. 5 (2007):

1432-1481.

Best, Shaun. "Liquid Terrorism: Altruistic Fundamentalism in the

Context of Liquid Modernity." Sociology. no. 4 (2010): 678-694.

Dalsheim, Joyce. "On Demonized Muslims and Vilified Jews: Between

Theory and Politics." Comparative Studies in Society and History. no. 3

(2010): 581-603. 

Feldman, Noah. The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State. Princeton: Princeton

University Press, 2008.

20

Gelfand, Michele J, Gary LaFree, Susan Fahey, and Emily Feinberg.

"Culture and Extremism." Journal of Social Issues. no. 3 (2013): 495-

517.

Haddad, Simon. "A Comparative Study of Lebanese and Palestinian

Perceptions of Suicide Bombings: The Role of Militant Islam and

Socio-Economic Status."International Journal of Comparative Sociology. no. 5

(2004): 337-363.

Horowitz, Michael C. "Nonstate Actors and the Diffusion of

Innovations: The Case of Suicide Terrorism."International Organization.

no. 1 (2010): 33-64.

Marin-Guzman, Roberto. "FANATICISM: A MAJOR OBSTACLE IN THE

MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN DIALOGUE. THE CASE OF TWENTIETH CENTURY ISLAMIC

FUNDAMENTALISM."Arab Studies Quarterly. no. 3 (2003): 63-96.

Simon, Steven. "The new terrorism." The Brookings Review. no. 1

(2003): 18-24.

Smith, Andrea. "Bedfellows at the Interfaith Zionist Leadership

Summit; With God on Our Side." Against the Current. no. 4 (2003): 5.

21

Tessler, Mark, and Michael D H Robbins. "What Leads Some Ordinary

Arab Men and Women to Approve of Terrorist Acts Against the

United States?."Journal of Conflict Resolution. no. 2 (2007): 305-328.

Toft, Monica. "Getting Religion? The Puzzling Case of Islam and

Civil War." International Security. no. 4 (2007): 97-131.