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This paper examines the motivations of Islamic martyrs through the Collective Effort Model (CEM). The CEM postulates that individuals work hard in a group only if they believe their work, input, or efforts will help attain their individually valued outcomes. In addition, people will work even harder as a group if they have close affinities with that group or if they are persuaded that their effort will be recognized (Karau & Williams, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 65(4):681-706, 1993). In the context of this analysis, it seems appropriate to apply the CEM to the motivations of Islamic martyrs to engage in suicide bombing as one can easily see the effects of their own efforts on their group's organizational goals. Determining the motivations of Islamic martyrs may also help us identify the specific recruiting strategies used by terrorist organizations looking to acquire followers for their cause. Keywords Collective Effort Model * Group * Islam * Martyrdom * Motivation * Suicide * Terrorism, Introduction This paper applies the principles of the Collective Effort Model (CEM) to the motivations of Islamic martyrs. By and large, the CEM rests on the premise that people will [...]

Despite its 16-year history (1993 to 2009), research about Palestinian bombers based on primary data is rare, and no previous study analyzes a representative sample of cases. Based on interviews the author conducted in 2006 with close relatives and friends of 42 randomly selected Palestinian suicide bombers, representing about one-quarter of Palestinian bombers during the second intifada or uprising (2000 to 2005), this article concludes that the motivations of Palestinian suicide bombers are typically complex. In descending order of importance, motivations include the (1) desire for revenge against Israeli forces and their harsh repressive measures, (2) religious inspiration, and (3) desire for liberation of the homeland. Malgre 16 ans d'histoire (1993-2009), les recherches sur les kamikazes palestiniens qui se fondent sur des donnees de base demeurent rares, et aucune etude precedente faisant une analyse d'echantillons representatifs de cas n'existe. Base sur des entretiens menes par l'auteur en 2006 avec des proches et amis de 42 kamikazes palestiniens selectionnes aleatoirement et representant environ un quart des kamikazes palestiniens de la deuxieme intifada (2000-2005), cet article conclut que les motivations de ces bombes humaines sont generalement complexes. Par ordre decroissant, les motivations comprennent (1) un desir de vengeance contre les forces israeliennes et leurs mesures repressives excessives, (2) l'inspiration religieuse et (3) le desir de liberation de la patrie., INTRODUCTION WHEN I INTERVIEWED the mother of Saher Tumam, the first Palestinian suicide bomber, she told me that I was the first researcher or journalist to interview the family despite [...]

Applying criminological/victimological concepts and theories, the study addresses the social processes involved in Palestinians' suicide terrorism and describes Palestinians' pathways to suicide bombing. The data axe derived from in-depth interviews of 7 male and female Palestinians serving prison sentences in Israel for attempted suicide bombing. The social background, context, and experiences of the interviewees, including their recruitment, interactions with the organizations that produce suicide bombing, the tangible and intangible incentives and rewards that motivated them to become suicide bombers, their preparation for the mission, and the strategies employed by the organizations to sustain recruits' resolve to conform to the plan are described and analyzed. The implications of the findings for theory and public policy are drawn and discussed. Keywords: suicide bombing; terrorism; martyrdom; Palestinians; victims; victimizers

Standoff explosives-detection technologies allow, in principle, for the detection of pedestrian suicide bombers, although such sensors are not yet sufficiently affordable and reliable to justify widespread deployment. What if they were? Assuming the availability of cheap, perfectly sensitive and specific suicide-bomber-sensing devices, we analyze the operational effectiveness of sensor-based detector schemes in reducing casualties from random suicide-bombing attacks. We model the number of casualties resulting from pedestrian suicide bombings absent intervention, the reduction in casualties from alternative interventions, given timely detection of a suicide-bombing attack, and the probability of timely detection under best-case assumptions governing the performance of suicide-bomber-detector schemes in two different urban settings. Even under such optimistic assumptions, we find that the widespread deployment of suicide-bomber detectors will not reliably result in meaningful casualty reductions. Relaxing the best-case assumptions only makes matters worse. Investment in intelligence-gathering to prevent suicide bombers before they attack seems a wiser strategy than relying on sensor-based suicide-bomber-detector schemes. mathematical modeling | sensor detectors | suicide bombings

It is argued here that the politics of suicide bombings can be seen to operate through the aesthetic responses they produce, insofar as these responses are provoked and in that they necessarily mobilise further responses. The article considers the scene of devastation created by a Chechen suicide bomber in Moscow in 2003. Drawing upon a reading of the political theory of Hannah Arendt that ties her to the tradition of thinking the sublime, it suggests that the 'aesthetic' impact of the scene dislocates the witness as well as simultaneously locating her/him in this world, a world in which such things happen. This location is a prompting to consider the world-in-common, the movements of the world, in a parallel sense to that in which the notion of the sublime has been employed to describe how the particular can have the ability to usher forth a feeling that there may be a super-sensible purposiveness to nature. At this prompting, the subject is humiliated and limited, since s/he becomes aware of the impossibility of adequately answering such questions, while 'ethically' her/his task is to nevertheless attempt some articulation of the connections so prompted. The article considers various ways in which that articulation might take place in relation to the Moscow bombing, and argues that these contested articulations constitute the 'political' level prompted in response to a scene of horror whose impact operates on the level of sensibility. Keywords: suicide bombers; Chechnya; the sublime; Hannah Arendt; terror; politics.

Sageman's (2004) and Pape's (2005) arguments for the development of Al'Qaeda members and suicide terrorism are examined statistically. Presence of foreign occupying troops and foreign support for disliked local regimes appeared to be related to either the number of Al'Qaeda suicide terrorists (Pape) or the number of known Al'Qaeda members (Sageman) reported within 34 predominately Sunni nations. Results support the theory that nationalism fuels much of Middle Eastern resentment against allied nations.

New anti-terrorism laws in Australia are seriously affecting research on Islamic fundamentalism. Riaz Hassan, emeritus professor of sociology at Flinders University in Adelaide, has had to abandon plans to interview international terrorist leaders as part of his study into suicide bombers after Australia's Attorney-General intervened.