Suicide Terrorism Research Proposal

Suicide terrorism is arguably the most extreme manifestation of political violence one actor may employ. Despite the current overall decrease in terrorist attacks, suicide tactics have become increasingly more common with close to 400 attacks in 2012 alone compared to around 150 not even two years prior (Horowitz, 2015). But what causes an individual to resort to such egregious measures? Does the society one lives in play an influential role? While both sucicide terrorism theorists and suicide terrorists themselves commonly explicate their justification through religious, and rationalist means, there exists an apparent sociological component. What explains the lack of suicide terrorism in highly militirized and religious western countries such as the United States? Additionally, what explains the IRA’s apparent lack of suicide terrorism, yet presence of destructive terrorism? Comparitvely, what explains the ever present use of suicide terrorism within non-religious insurgent groups such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam? By examining methods in which specific societal norms either promote individualism or collectivism, this research proposal formulates a theory surrounding the societal architecture that rebel groups participate in to propose an enhanced explanatory role of cultural norms in the likelihood and justification of suicide terrorism. I propose to test this theory by examining the sociological and psychological influence of both collectivist and individualistic norms in different insurgent groups. This will be made possible through use of Geert Hofstede’s National Culture program as well as previous war data and analysis, in order to correlate the presence of collectivist societal norms to the likelihood of suicide terrorism.

Rather than conducting an actualized test in order to answer the proposed question, this particular study will explicate a possible method to potentially test this theory, and what information may be found as a result. Firstly, the research proposal will begin with a discussion of the current research surrounding both suicide terrorism and societal norms. Second, a possible theory which may be utilized to conduct the necessary research will be presented, third, will follow the guiding research question on the specific topic. Fourth, the proposed methodology will be presented with reliance on a mixed-method analysis, as well as subsequent challenges and limitations which may occur. Finally, the research will conclude with a discussion of the greater implications of this proposed research to the study of the interaction between culture and suicide terrorism as a whole.