Psycho-Political Aspects of Suicide Warriors, Terrorism and Martyrdom is an attempt to explain the antecedents of the suicide bomber/warrior and other forms of violence which are often termed ‘terrorism.’ In addition to this daunting task, possible solutions both on a global and individual level are examined and finally, treatment of survivors of violence is addressed. The editor authored six and co-authored seven of the 17 chapters. His style throughout is to challenge the Western reader with a point of view often not considered; that of the person(s) carrying out the attack. It is a style which will make many uncomfortable and frustrated as the “side” of the audience for which this book is intended is given less attention as compared to the “other side.” This is certainly a book which both challenges and invokes contemplation. The first chapter co-authored by the editor and Valerie Dripchak, exams the many complexities and difficulties with defining people and their actions. As they point out, the terrorist, the martyr, the solider, the folk hero and the freedom fighter may all be the same person engaging in either war, terrorism, heroism, or executing God’s will depending on the observer. Definitions of the words ‘Terrorist’ and ‘Terrorism’ are examined from several agencies before the authors suggest dispensing with the term whenever the aim of the action is to cause political change and instead focus on the action itself. The second chapter is an examination of who becomes a suicide bomber. Marvasti takes a psychoanalytic approach in this chapter, and throughout the book, to help explain violence on a national as well as individual level. He combines the psychoanalytic research with the classic experiment in obedience by Milgram to explain how the individual can believe becoming a suicide bomber is a right and worthy cause. He finishes the chapter by examining how survivor’s guilt and identification with martyrs are primary reasons to explain the increasing numbers of suicide bombers. After looking at who becomes a suicide bomber, Marvasti uses the third chapter to explain the motivations behind the person. The factors of motivation are broken down into; nationalism, rage and revenge, psychic trauma and disassociation, religion, group process, poverty, perceived injustice, cultural support, and remuneration. On the last factor, Marvasti takes care to list out what he believes is the Western news media exaggerations of the promise of virgin girls in heaven and promised money to the surviving family members. The author suggests this is a direct result of western media’s obsession with sex and money as opposed to more salient motivating factors. Marvasti and Dripchak collaborate again on the fourth chapter, psychological responses and treatment in regard to the trauma terrorism. The responses to traumatic events are examined at the boarder population level with particular attention paid to children. Both direct survivors and the population at large are discussed along with a variety of popular treatment models. By necessity the description of treatmentmodels are very brief and are intended as an overview only. Of note is an interesting discussion on intergenerational issues related to psychological responses of trauma. The fifth chapter, written by Marvasti, is an interesting comparison between the Muslim living in the United States and the European Muslim. The author discusses the “homegrown worrier,” that is, the overwhelming majority of Western Muslims who are not engaged in terrorism but are concern about the issues which mark them for discrimination, profiling and rejection in the larger communities in which they J Police Crim Psych (2009) 24:59–60 DOI 10.1007/s11896-008-9036-5
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Dec 30, 2013
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