The suicide bomber as a medium of terrorist communication: a contribution from social systems theory

ABSTRACT

This paper examines how suicide bombers are framed in terrorist communication, focusing on the empirical case of al-Qaeda’s suicide campaigns. Relying on the concept of media of communication in social systems theory, three main communicative levels of terrorist propaganda underlying the representation of suicide bombers are identified. First, on the level of power, armed organizations aim to coerce and deter their enemy by staging a complex set of communicative forms that signal their militants’ determination and resolve. Second, on the level of influence, armed groups exploit the symbolic qualities of suicide missions to gain support from a presumed constituency by referring to suicide attackers’ reputation and their ultimate sacrifice. Finally, by combining references to values and influence, bombers’ behavior and last wills are used as recruitment tools to attract new fighters by appealing to principles rooted in the prestige of martyrs. All of these communicative forms support the hypothesis that the representation of heroism and martyrdom is a crucial component of suicide terrorism. The synergy between the psychological impact of costly actions like suicide missions and framing processes exalting the military, moral and religious qualities of attackers constitutes a sophisticated weapon of a more recent asymmetric warfare involving radical Islamist organizations.

KEYWORDS:

• Al-Qaeda
• medium and form
• radical Islamism
• suicide terrorism
• symbolic media of interchange

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Domenico Tosini

Domenico Tosini is an associate professor of sociology and deputy director of the PhD Program in Sociology and Social Research at School of Social Sciences – University of Trento (Italy). His research interests are located at the intersection of sociological theory, sociology of deviant behavior, and criminology and have mainly focused on terrorism, homicide, family violence, suicide, suicide prevention / postvention. His recent investigations have concerned psychological and social mechanisms underlying several types of homicide-suicides: not only in the circumstances of political and religious terrorism, but also in the contexts of domestic violence (additional information at http://www.domenicotosini.org).