Assessing the influence of politics as a purveyor of social support for suicide terrorism

Abstract

The patriotism and heroism that is seen in those willing to die with the enemy for the community’s good, account for their martyrdom status and been venerated, even as outsiders condemn them as suicide terrorists. The more the social supports that could be garnered against the government the more the political legitimacy that gets conferred on terror cell groups. The brazen attacks by Hamas could be seen as a case in point and also a strategy to disrupt the Saudi-Arabia-Isreal normalisation moves, a charge against all Israeli's diplomatic rapprochements for common ground. This study employed rational choice theory to investigate the influence of politics as a social support purveyor for suicide terrorism which is seen as a low-cost operative. The study engages foreign military occupation, political legitimacy, and exploitation of enemy Counter-Terror Strategy, to explain the role of politics in generating social support for suicide terrorism. The study employed a desktop research design with a reliance on historical and secondary data from extant literature. Findings from the study showed that political narratives as seen in misgovernance play a pivotal role in generating and sustaining social support for suicide terrorism. The study also submitted that most militant groups employ political narratives in generating social support for their suicide terror endeavours, though in varied quantities depending on the environment. The study recommends that States' Foreign Military Occupation should extensively review such while non kinetic approach that addresses socioeconomic imbalances should be considered to counter the narratives of terror cell groups who may engage in social services to enjoy political legitimacy against the government