Root Causes of Suicide Terrorism: The Globalization of Martyrdom

This highly topical new study clearly shows how there are at least two reasons to question the central role that is assigned to religion, in particular Islam, when explaining suicide terrorism.

• suicide terrorism is a modern phenomenon, yet Islam is a very old religion. Except for two periods in the twelfth and eighteenth centuries, suicide was never part of Islamist beliefs and behaviours. Actually, Islam clearly forbids suicide, hence, the argument that Islamic religious beliefs are the main cause of suicide terrorism is inherently dubious
• many suicide attacks have been carried out by secular organizations with little connection to fundamentalist Islam: Palestinian Fatah; the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; and the Kurdish Workers Party. Moreover, one of the organizations that has employed this strategy devastatingly and regularly is the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam). Not only are members of this organization not Muslim, most of them are not religious at all.

This superb new book contains essays by some of the world's leading scholars of terrorism and political violence. It is essential reading for students of terrorism, political science and Middle Eastern politics, and useful to students of social psychology, theology and history.

Author: Ami Pedahzur
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 06/22/2006
Pages: 224
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.74lbs
Size: 9.16h x 6.36w x 0.52d
ISBN: 9780415770309

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 11/01/2006 pg. 174

About the Author

Ami Pedahzur is an associate professor at the department of government, University of Texas, Austin. His latest publications include: Political Parties and Terrorist Groups (with Leonard Weinberg, 2003) and The Israeli Response to Jewish Extremism and Violence - Defending Democracy (2002).