State Sponsorship of Religiously Motivated Terrorism: A Deadly Combination

ABSTRACT This study investigates the outcomes of suicide terrorism by examining the interaction between religious ideology and state sponsorship. Specifically, we are interested in how state sponsorship may facilitate religiously motivated terrorist groups to carry out suicide attacks. Religiously motivated terrorism groups are predisposed to the utilization of suicide terrorism because of the justification of unrestrained violence to achieve religious goals and the veneration of martyrdom. States will sponsor religiously motivated terrorist groups especially for the purposes of public goods provisions, increasing the state’s bargaining power and credibility, and as a way to export state ideology. The interaction between religion and state sponsorship ultimately facilitates suicide attacks as a low cost, yet highly visible and effective means for both the state and the terrorist group to achieve their goals. The results suggest that not only are religiously motivated terrorist groups more inclined to use suicide terrorism than other group types, but that this inclination is heightened when religiously motivated groups are state-sponsored. Consequently, states should seek to devote specific attention and resources to halting state-sponsors of religiously motivated terrorism and consider including building state capacity as part of a counterterrorism strategy.