Dying to win: the strategic logic of suicide terrorism / Robert A. Pape.

"Includes a new afterword" -- p. [1] of cover.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Political scientist Robert Pape has created the first comprehensive database of every suicide terrorist attack in the world from 1980 until today. Here he provides a groundbreaking demographic profile of modern suicide terrorist attackers--and his findings offer a powerful counterpoint to conventional assumptions. He also examines the early practitioners of this guerrilla tactic, including the ancient Jewish Zealots, who in A.D. 66 wished to liberate themselves from Roman occupation; the Ismaili Assassins, a Shi'ite Muslim sect in northern Iran in the eleventh and twelfth centuries; World War II's Japanese kamikaze pilots, three thousand of whom crashed into U.S. naval vessels; and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, a secular, Marxist-Leninist organization responsible for more suicide terrorist attacks than any other group in history. This is a work of analysis grounded in fact, not politics, that recommends concrete ways for states to fight and prevent terrorist attacks now.--From publisher description.

Introduction: The growing threat ; Explaining suicide terrorism -- Pt. 1: The strategic logic of suicide terrorism. A strategy for weak actors ; Targeting democracies ; Learning terrorism pays -- Pt. 2: The social logic of suicide terrorism. Occupation and religious difference ; Demystifying al-Qaeda ; Suicide terrorist organizations around the globe -- Pt. 3: The individual logic of suicide terrorism. Altruism and terrorism ; The demographic profile of suicide terrorists ; Portraits of three suicide terrorists -- Conclusion. A new strategy for victory -- Afterword: Why the war on terrorism is heading south -- Appendix: Suicide terrorist campaigns, 1980-2003 and Iraq through 2005 ; Occupations by democratic states, 1980-2003 ; Salafism in major Sunni Muslim majority countries.