Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide TerrorismIncludes a new Afterword Finalist for the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Book Award One of the world’s foremost authorities on the subject of suicide terrorism, the esteemed political scientist Robert Pape has created the first comprehensive database of every suicide terrorist attack in the world from 1980 until today. In Dying to Win, Pape provides a groundbreaking demographic profile of modern suicide terrorist attackers–and his findings offer a powerful counterpoint to what we now accept as conventional wisdom on the topic. He also examines the early practitioners of this guerrilla tactic, including the ancient Jewish Zealots, who in A.D. 66 wished to liberate themselves from Roman occupation; the Ismaili Assassins, a Shi’ite Muslim sect in northern Iran in the eleventh and twelfth centuries; World War II’s Japanese kamikaze pilots, three thousand of whom crashed into U.S. naval vessels; and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, a secular, Marxist-Leninist organization responsible for more suicide terrorist attacks than any other group in history. Dying to Win is a startling work of analysis grounded in fact, not politics, that recommends concrete ways for states to fight and prevent terrorist attacks now. Transcending speculation with systematic scholarship, this is one of the most important studies of the terrorist threat to the United States and its allies since 9/11. “Invaluable . . . gives Americans an urgently needed basis for devising a strategy to defeat Osama bin Laden and other Islamist militants.” –Michael Scheuer, author of Imperial Hubris “Provocative . . . Pape wants to change the way you think about suicide bombings and explain why they are on the rise.” –Henry Schuster, CNN.com “Enlightening . . . sheds interesting light on a phenomenon often mistakenly believed to be restricted to the Middle East.” –The Washington Post Book World “Brilliant.” –Peter Bergen, author of Holy War, Inc. |
Contents
The Growing Threat | 3 |
THE STRATEGIC LOGIC OF SUICIDE TERRORISM | 27 |
CONCLUSION | 39 |
Copyright | |
10 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism Robert Anthony Pape No preview available - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
Afghanistan al-Qaeda suicide terrorists American combat American military presence Arab Arabian Peninsula Baghdad Black Tigers bomb car bomb car bomb cause coercive committed concessions death democracy egoistic enemy forces foreign occupation Gaza goals guerrilla Hamas Hezbollah Hindu homeland important individuals Iraq Islamic fundamentalism Islamic Jihad Israel Israeli Jaffna July killed Kurdish Kurds Lebanese Lebanon logic of suicide LTTE major martyrdom martyrs militant million mission movement Muslim countries nationalist occupied community ordinary suicide Osama bin Laden Palestine Palestinian percent Persian Gulf political Punjab rebellion recruiting regime religion religious difference resistance rorism Salafi Salafi-influenced populations Saudi Arabia secular Shia Sikh Sinhala Sinhalese social society Sri Lanka strategy suicide attacks suicide campaign suicide operations suicide terrorism suicide terrorist attacks suicide terrorist campaigns suicide terrorist groups support for suicide Tamil Eelam Tamil Tigers target territory terrorist organizations threat tion troops truck bomb Turkey United violence West Bank withdrawal