Making Sense of Suicide Missions (Hardcover, New)

Suicide attacks have become the defining act of political violence of our age. From New York City to Baghdad, from Sri Lanka to Israel, few can doubt that they are a terrifying feature of an increasing number of violent conflicts. Since 1981, around 30 organizations throughout the world - some of them secular and others affiliated to radical Islam - have carried out more than 600 suicide missions. Although a tiny fraction of the overall number of guerrilla and terrorist attacks occurring in the same period, the results have proved significantly more lethal. This book is the first to shed real light on these extraordinary acts, and provide answers to the questions we all ask. Are these the actions of aggressive religious zealots and unbridled, irrational radicals or is there a logic driving those behind them? Are their motivations religious or has Islam provided a language to express essentially political causes? How can the perpetrators remain so lucidly effective in the face of certain death? And do these disparate attacks have something like a common cause? For nearly three years, this team of internationally distinguished scholars has pursued an unprejudiced inquiry, investigating organizers and perpetrators alike of this extraordinary phenomenon. Close comparisons between a whole range of cases raise challenging further questions: if suicide missions are so effective, why are they not more common? If killing is what matters, why not stick to 'ordinary' violent means? Or, if dying is what matters, why kill in the process? Making Sense of Suicide Missions contains a wealth of original information and innovative analysis which further our understanding of this chilling feature of the contemporary world in radically new and unexpected ways.

General

Imprint:	Oxford UniversityPress
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	March 2005
First published:	May 2005
Authors:	Diego Gambetta
Dimensions:	242 x 163 x 27mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	392
Edition:	New
ISBN-13:	978-0-19-927699-8
Categories:	Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social institutions > Death & dying > General Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social issues > Violence in society > General Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Crime & criminology > Organized crime > General Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political activism > Terrorism, freedom fighters, armed struggle > General Promotions
LSN:	0-19-927699-4
Barcode:	9780199276998

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