Illuminating the Global Suicide-Attack Network

• Published in: Studies in conflict and terrorism Vol. 36; no. 1; pp. 49 - 76
• Main Authors: Acosta, Benjamin, Childs, Steven J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington Taylor & Francis Group 01-01-2013; Taylor & Francis LLC
• Subjects: Armed forces; Bayesian method; Classification; Duress (Law); Econometrics; Employers; Globalization; Ideology; LITERATURE; Motivation; Network Analysis; Organizational analysis; Political Violence; Social aspects; Suicide; Suicide bombings; Suicides & suicide attempts; Tactics; TERRORISM; Time series; VIOLENCE; UNITED STATES
• ISSN: 1057-610X; 1521-0731
• DOI: 10.1080/1057610X.2013.739079

This article examines the contemporary phenomenon of suicide attacks by fusing network analysis and time-series econometrics. We find that a global network of militant organizations drives the reproduction of the suicide-attack phenomenon, and brokers within the network mark the primary perpetrators and diffusers of the tactic. The introduction of a fourth level of analysis of political violence demonstrates that network connections between organizations form a system that perpetuates suicide attacks. An organization-level analysis reveals that ideological congruence facilitates the establishment of network connections. As exemplified by the wide range of employers and targets, and moreover by the generation of an autogamous function, contemporary suicide attacks represent a unique sociopolitical phenomenon. Accordingly, organizations that use the tactic warrant a distinct classification.