Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism.

• Author: Smith, Ron
• Position: Book Review

DYING TO WIN: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism

Author: Robert Pape

Published by: University of Chicago/ Scribe Publications, Chicago and Melbourne, 2005, 336pp, $35.

This book is essential reading for both practitioners of the 'war on terror' and interested or concerned spectators. In it, Professor Pape reports the findings of an extensive research project at the University of Chicago on suicide terrorism, as it was practised over the years 1980-2003, and on the basis of this database he offers well-supported conclusions about the motivations of the terrorists and recommendations for those whose duty it is to combat them.

The 'strategic logic' of suicide terrorism is simply expressed. The terrorists intend to compel modern democracies to withdraw their military forces from territory that the terrorists view as their homeland. The purpose of the various suicide terrorist groups is thus predominantly nationalistic and secular, even if, as in some cases, there is an overt and strongly expressed religious dimension to what is done. On this reading, the problem in the Middle East and Central Asia is not fundamentalist Islam but the presence of foreign, occupying forces, and suicide terrorists are typically not driven by religious zealotry as much as they are by nationalistic fervour. There are actually three levels of 'logic' here. At the strictly strategic level, the purpose of the terrorist leadership is national liberation. At the individual level, the motivation of the terrorists is predominantly altruistic (as opposed to 'egoistic' or 'fatalistic'). That is to say, the terrorists generally do what they do because of their attachment to a 'cause', rather than because of some personal problem. Because of this, they are enthusiastically supported by their society, and this societal support constitutes the third element that underpins suicide terrorism.

As far as Pape is concerned, this understanding of the phenomenon of suicide terrorism is of enormous significance in determining what policies need to be adopted to successfully combat it. Most obviously, he thinks that the strategy of further occupying Islamic lands is 'fatally flawed', in that it is likely to provoke more terrorism. The logic of what should be done is less clear (it less obviously flows from his data), but Pape does express approval for recent Israeli policy, which entails significant concessions to nationalist sentiment (withdrawal from Gaza, for example) combined...