Summary Of The Strategic Logic Of Suicide Terrorism

In his article “The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism”, Robert A. Page tried to find the answer on the question: ‘Why is the number of suicide terrorist attacks increasing last decades?’. Answering this question, he developed the theory about suicide terrorism’s logic and he presented it in details. Because it’s controversial matter, he analyzed terrorists’ assessments of suicide terrorism from different sides. To emphasize his arguments, he examined this issue through intifada against Israel.

Page claimed that the suicide terrorist attacks’ targets are democracies. To prove his opinion, he described how relationship between Kurds and Turkey as distinguished from relationships between Kurds and Iraq. But there are several reasons why the

Kurds attack more Turkey than Iraq. First, the most numerous part of Kurds live in Turkey. Second, the internal oppression on Kurds by Turkish government: repression, prohibition to speak Kurdish language, even the word ‘kurd’ was canceled and was replaced on ‘mountain Turks’.
However, lots of scholars agree with him that democracies are the terrorists’ targets.

For the first time the dilemma of liberal democracies and terrorism was raised by Wilkinson in 1986. R. Page argued that democracies often seems like ‘soft’, they are vulnerable to any violence. Hoffman explained it through freedom of speech, freedom of association, press freedom, right to privacy, etc. So, people want not only to express their own opinions directly or indirectly, but they also want to implement it. Even if it’s small community, if their issues won’t implement, they start to keep their grievance which leads to violent actions. Other scholars, such as Eubank and Weinberg, did empirical researches that shows that terrorist groups are more likely present in a democracy as compared to an autocracy. North Korea is the country with totalitarian dictator regime. There are no terrorist attacks in this

country.
It worth to note, Page didn’t mention that fledgling and transition democracies are more vulnerable to terrorism. According to recent studies, Libya, after overthrow leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, is becoming the democratic country. In obedience to report “Global Terrorism Index 2015” is published by Institute for Economics and Peace, there were no deaths from terrorism in Libya until 2012 when 28 people were killed in 51 separate attacks. And now, Libya recorded a 255 per cent increase in terrorist fatalities in 2014 compared to the previous year.
Moreover, not all democracies attacked by terrorist attack.

Why? One of the reasons can be the number of alliance of states and also it can be one of the side of logic of terrorism. Based on RAND data, Savun & Phillips (2009) demonstrated that democracies that engaged in foreign policy crises with other countries attracted more transnational terrorism. For example, alliance ties with the United States and interventions in foreign civil wars also resulted in the country experiencing more transnational terrorist attacks. But because the U.S. is rich country with high costs in security sphere, terrorist attacked the USA from outside. The attack on the U.S. consulate in Turkey on July 9, 2008, or the March 11, 2004, Madrid train bombing are demonstrative examples of this argument that states in which the United States has strong interests may be subject to transnational

terrorism.
I think no one will deny that democracies are easier target for terrorists. That’s why now scholars discuss how democracies affect on terrorism. On one hand, democracy reduces terrorism because democracies offer access for citizens to seek recourse to their grievances. Moreover, groups in democratic societies are more likely to pursue nonviolent alternatives rather than costly terrorist activities to further their interest. On the other hand, democracies can encourage terrorism, because democratic countries provide relatively more freedom of speech, movement, and association, permitting parochial interests to get organized and reducing the costs of conducting terrorist activities.
However, Page asserted that relatively new democracies and ‘partly-free’ democracies also are the terrorists’ targets. Although, these states don’t have so much freedom but they are democracies, that prove previous opinion.
Robert Page analyzed 188 suicide terrorist campaign from 1980 to 2001. He discovered a lot of characteristics why suicide terrorist campaign is so popular now. I think we can say the main ideas: easy way, lower costs, stories are told in media, achieving non-ambition concessions - all of these ideas lead to recruit new members and coercive success. In originally, suicide terrorist campaign was encouraged by nationalistic and political ideas, now the main incentive for suicide terrorist attackers is religious fanatism.