Legitimation of Suicide Missions

The doctoral thesis project consists of a study on the legitimation of suicide missions, which draws parallels between the secular Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers and the religious Lebanese Hezbollah, both of which have resorted to suicide missions to promote their policies. The study aims to answer the following questions: How do the organizations’ leaders legitimate the attacks, how are conceptions of the enemy built and rebuilt during this process, and what is the role of martyrdom in the discourses of the organizations’ leaders? The study approaches these questions from the organizations’ perspective, and from the premise of critical terrorism theory. It sets out an analytical approach to terrorism research that takes the organizations’ own views into account, explains radicalization processes in different organizations, and therefore also helps to prevent terrorism.

Partners: University of Tampere, School of Management (Political Science)

Funding: Finnish Cultural Foundation's Häme Regional Fund, Niilo Helander Foundation, Oskar Öflund Foundation, Eino Jutikkala Foundation, Science Foundation for Women, People’s Education Fund, Finnish Concordia Fund

Contact person at the Police University College: Scholarship Researcher Annika Rosberg-Haavisto