Citation

Bhatia V, Knight WA. S. Asian Surv. 2011; 18(1): 7-26.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0971523112469481

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In this article we compare two conflicts in South Asia--civil war in Sri Lanka and the insurgency in Kashmir--to investigate the enabling conditions for female suicide terrorism in the former, and the lack thereof in the latter. We conclude that female suicide terrorism is a product of several inter-related factors that feed into each other: (i) tormented society, (ii) individual grievances, and (iii) a terrorist organisation with an effective indoctrination structure. Thus, rather than focusing on the individual motivations behind the female bombers, it is important to situate them in specific socio-political contexts.

Language: en