Diffusing Human Bombs: The Role of Cultural Resonance in the Spread of Suicide Terrorism
59 Pages Posted: 27 Jan 2011
Date Written: January 21, 2011
Abstract
While the overall level of terrorism has declined over the last two decades, the world has witnessed a steep increase in the use of suicide bombing attacks. Rational choice and religious ideology accounts have been proposed to explain the diffusion of this lethal tactic of political violence. This article challenges both accounts and proposes a new perspective. The authors argue that a key element that influences whether a terrorist organization does or does not adopt suicide terrorism is cultural resonance – the idea that deep and specific cultural logics enable and constrain the sorts of instrumental behaviors that can be utilized in the pursuit of group goals. The article investigates the role of a well-established cultural orientation of collectivism-individualism in the receptiveness of terrorist groups to the adoption of suicide bombing as a tactic. The authors posit that collectivist groups are better able to convince their members to sacrifice themselves for the group and to gain approval for doing so from their social environment. An explanatory mechanism is proposed to account for this link and case studies, survey data, and experimental research are used to illustrate the mechanism at work. An event history analysis framework is then used to quantitatively test the relationship between collectivism and suicide terrorism diffusion in a large dataset, while controlling for other factors. The paper finds that collectivist terrorist organizations are over 50 percent more likely to adopt the tactic than individualist terrorist organizations. Wider theoretical implications of the cultural resonance perspective are discussed.
Keywords: Terrorism, Suicide Terrorism, Diffusion, Culture, Collectivism, Individualism, Political Violence, Tactics, Decision Making
JEL Classification: D74, H56
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation