What comes to mind when you think about suicide bombers? Crazed fanatics? Sane individuals? Mental illness? Well, this paper sets out to support the notion that suicide bombers are rational actors. That is to say, that they possess all of their faculties and enter willingly into an organization that will end their lives.
We must define what terrorism is, suicide attacks is, and what rational actors are. Jason Burke defines terrorism as “the use of threat of ‘serious violence’ to advance some ‘cause’.” [1] Suicide attacks use the term terrorism to commit acts that harm the perpetrator as well as local area non-combatants. We have learned that groups that target civilians are less likely to achieve their goals than those that hit military targets. While it may not directly serve their purposes, the acts indirectly stoke fear in the eyes of the inhabitants of a country, town or city. The suicide attack(s) may inflict harm on the morale of an occupying force.
The person who we credit the term “suicide terrorism” or “suicide attack” is Ami Pedahzur. He defines “suicide attack” as “violent actions perpetrated by people who are aware that the odds they will return alive are close to zero”.[2] He was one of the first people to use this term. Around 2006 countless other scholars used the term to describe what they thought was radical behavior. But what is a rational actor? A rational actor is one whose behavior can be explained using proper logic – where the ends justify the means.
Why is dissecting suicide attacks/bombers important? Fully understanding the mind of a suicide bomber is important because it may offer an explanation and closure to the family members and loved ones of attack victims . Suicide attacks date back to World War II with the use of Japanese Kamikaze pilots. These pilots would fly their planes into American HVTs (high value targets). Suicide attacks are attacks where “the perpetrator’s ensured death is a precondition for the success of his mission.” [3] In Islam, acts of Jihad like suicide bombings guarantees the bombers’ receipt into heaven and procurement of 72 virgins. The New Yorker states that ‘terrorists, even suicide bombers, are not psychotics or fanatics. They’re rational actors – that is, what they do is explicable in terms of their beliefs and desires – who respond to the set of incentives that they find before them.” [4] In understanding suicide bombers it is also beneficial to determine the idea of the type of person that may execute an attack. This is important in policing and military prowess. However, suicide bombers know no one psychological or physical characteristic which makes profiling difficult. Not to mention there are some ethical implications for profiling of specific individuals.
Where is the evidence that shows whether suicide bombers are rational actors or not? Some of the literature, by Ivan Sascha Sheehan, supports connotations of suicide terrorism’s lethality. He found that “in 2013 alone, some 384 suicide terrorist attacks were carried out in 18 countries causing 3743 deaths.” [5] This staggering statistic is one of many such about suicide bombing in general. Furthermore, “suicide terrorist acts have become disturbingly frequent, with more than 3500 acts since 2003”. [5] According to The New Yorker suicide bombers are “normal, well-adjusted individuals who turn to suicide terror for political or religious reasons or simply because of social and group processes.” [5]
I would label the claim that suicide bombers are rational actors as true. I think there is a lot of coercion involved in terrorist organizations that capitalize on the individuals’ sense of belonging and purpose. There is no pathology to suicide bombers other than a desire to please, and even that is questionable. The literature on suicide bombers clearly describes the increasing lethality and presence of suicide attacks used by terrorist organizations. Hopefully the counter-terrorism methods that are currently being deployed are enough to curb the effect of suicide bombing and other suicide attacks.
Bibliography
[1] Jason Burke (2004). Al-Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–24 (22). ISBN 978-1-85043-666-9.
[2] Moghadam, Assaf (2006). Pedahzur, Ami (ed.). Root Causes of Suicide Terrorism: The Globalization of Martyrdom. Oxon, NY: Routledge. p. 8. ISBN 978-0415770293
[3]. Yoram Schweitzer (April 21, 2000). “Suicide Terrorism: Development and Characteristics”. International Institute for Counter-Terrorism.
[4] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/04/26/terrorism-studies
[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4267802/