Suicide terrorism : strategic and societal dimensions

Bilandžić, Mirko. (2012). Suicide terrorism : strategic and societal dimensions. Polemos : časopis za interdisciplinarna istraživanja rata i mira, XV(30). pp. 53-80. ISSN 1331-5595

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Abstract

Suicide terrorism, dying which involves killing others, as a form of action which focuses primary on political goals, has been in use since ancient times. It is a form of violent doing in which one’s life is a weapon. This deadly terrorist modus operandi escalated at the beginning of the 21st century and since then it has progressively gained more and more attention from the academic community. Suicide terrorism is a method of operation according to which the act of terrorist strike depends on the death of the perpetrator. Premeditated certain death of the perpetrator is the precondition for a successful strike. Unlike the period of the 1980s when the modern suicide terrorism arose and there were in average 3 suicide acts per year, today the number of acts has increased by hundred times on an annual level. Most of the strikes were carried out by secular terrorist organizations. According to the recent research suicide terrorism has escalated in the conditions of military occupation and political control of the territories which the terrorists consider to be their homeland. The point in question is that it is a strategic and rational form of action which involves realization of political goals.

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