Palestinian Suicide Bombers Revisited: A critique of current wisdom
A fundamental question has dominated the study of terrorism and suicide attacks. After the September 11 attacks, scholars have primarily relied on themes from neoclassical economics to develop theoretical and empirical models of terrorism. Suicide attackers and terrorist were seen as optimizing agents. But this innovative approach failed to deliver and obscured more than it illuminated. It failed to yield meaningful predictions and practical policy implications. This paper considers the merits of this approach and surveys evidence gathered from the biographical sketches of 50 Palestinian suicide attackers.