Explain Domenico Tosini's beliefs regarding suicide, religion, and terrorism

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• Tosini believes the link between suicide and religion has been disproved given that secular terrorist groups have employed the tactic.
• Tosini believes that rational choice and religion are secondary factors in suicide attacks.
• The major factor is the social structure and culture of the group engaged in suicide terrorism.
• Groups take actions inside social structures based on their understanding of reality – this can create the group dynamics that lead to suicide terrorism.

• The dynamic agents involved in a suicide bombing are the armed terrorist group, the group's supporters, and the bombers.

• These three entities operate in a social network where decisions are made based on the interpretations of situations.
• The decision to engage in suicide bombing is based on the interactions of terrorists, supporters, and attackers within a surrounding social network.
• Moving beyond rational choice, Tosini argues that the social climate must readily accept suicide bombings.
• Supporters of a terrorist group have to embrace the idea, and create social rewards for bombers and their relatives.
• Beyond this, the entire community must accept violence as a normative response to social grievances and believe that suicide bombing is an acceptable expression of violence.
• Supporting groups need material and symbolic rewards, and attackers must have a deep attachment to idealized representations of their communities.
When altruism enters the equation, it produces culture of martyrdom and this in turn, combines with two common military approaches to war – dehumanization and depersonalization of enemies.
• Tosini argues that suicide terrorism develops when a culture accepts it as an expression of altruistic martyrdom and terrorist groups with the culture embrace the tactic.
• Suicide bombing takes place through a social process that endorses self- sacrifice as a legitimate expression of normal behavior.