Divergent paths to martyrdom and significance among suicide attackers

This research used open source information to investigate the motivational backgrounds of 219 suicide attackers from various regions of the world. We inquired as to whether the attackers exhibited evidence for significance quest as a motive for their actions, and whether the eradication of significance loss and/or the aspiration for significance gain systematically differed according to attackers’ demographics. It was found that the specific nature of the significance quest motive varied in accordance with attackers’ gender, age, and education. Whereas Arab-Palestinians, males, younger attackers, and more educated attackers seem to have been motivated primarily by the possibility of significance gain, women, older attackers, those with little education, and those hailing from other regions seem to have been motivated primarily by the eradication of significance loss. Analyses also suggested that the stronger an attacker’s significance quest motive, the greater the effectiveness of their attack, as measured by the number of casualties. Methodological limitations of the present study were discussed, and the possible directions for further research were indicated

Suicide attacks as a terrorist tactic : characteristics and counter-measures

As a systematic terrorist tactic, suicide attacks are a relatively new phenomenon. The article surveys the dimensions of this phenomenon, influencing factors, and counter-measures. After an overview of the political and strategic significance of this tactic, the article discusses the distribution of suicide attacks around the globe, arguing that although suicide attacks have grown dramatically in recent years, the bulk of them occur in foci of acute violent conflicts. A description is also provided of how Palestinian groups prepare for suicide attacks, emphasising the role of community support and the perpetrating group in the process. The article concludes with a brief discussion of counter-measures

From Non-places to Non-Events. The Airport Security Checkpoint

Pütz O. From Non-places to Non-Events. The Airport Security Checkpoint. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. 2012;41(2):154-188.In this article I raise the question of how individuals avoid interaction in spite of bodily proximity. I consider the empirical case of the airport security checkpoint. Drawing on participant observation of nine different airports, my research focuses on the security checkpoints of a small German airport. I suggest that the security checkpoint functions as a junction of security and mobility where screeners and travelers cannot avoid physical contact. Guided by the insights of Goffman and Augé, my analysis reveals that practices akin to civil inattention, which are based on the avoidance of interaction, create the experience of a non-place through “non-events.” A precondition for non-events is the standardization of procedures at the checkpoint, which creates a visual and sequential order. Strict procedural rules allow screeners and travelers to disconnect the body of the traveler temporarily from the traveler as an individual. Screeners and travelers practically achieve this disconnection by minimizing face-to-face interaction, thereby avoiding problematic definitions of the situation. This practice, however, results in discrimination against travelers who are unable or unwilling to present their body as a normalized and passive body. My findings thus point to the ability of organizationally framed settings, like the security checkpoint, to deviate from public life, while also addressing the limits of such a deviation. In concluding, I discuss the utility of the concept of non-places along with the merits of interactional analysis for understanding consequences of technological and procedural change. I also consider the efficiency of security practices from a dramaturgical perspective