Pape on suicide terrorism

Cross posted at Political Arguments.

Robert A. Pape, a professor of international relations in my department, has an Op-Ed in the NT Times today.

Over the past two years, I have compiled a database of every suicide bombing and attack around the globe from 1980 through 2003 - 315 in all. This includes every episode in which at least one terrorist killed himself or herself while trying to kill others, but excludes attacks authorized by a national government (like those by North Korean agents against South Korea). The data show that there is far less of a connection between suicide terrorism and religious fundamentalism than most people think.

Pape made some waves a couple of years ago with an article in the American Political Science Review, where he argued "that suicide terrorism follows a strategic logic, one specifically designed to coerce modern liberal democracies to make significant territorial concessions. Moreover, over the past two decades, suicide terrorism has been rising largely because terrorists have learned that it pays.... In all but the case of Turkey, the terrorist political cause made more gains after the resort to suicide operations than it had before." Pape argued that neither concessions not offensive military action was likely to lessen the appeal of suicide terrorism, and that efforts should be concentrated on defensive efforts and homeland security. "The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism," APSR 97(3):343-361 (2003)