What Influences an Individual to Become a Suicide Bomber - Research Paper Example

? What aspect (variable) of society provides the most mount of influence in an individual to become a suicide bomber Introduction Background to the Study Several schools of thought give different reasons why the need for world peace cannot be underestimated in ensuring the successful occupancy of the earth as the home of humans. Some of these schools of thoughts include religion, science and philosophy. For example scientifically, earth is considered the only planet where humans can live and so if there is destruction to the earth as a result of anti-peace activities, man would have no other place to look to. Most religions also teach that humans are the caretakers of the earth and so we ought to eschew activities that destroy the earth. Regardless of all these, the world has since its inception not known the needed peace it deserves and that it continues to be abused by the day. Acts of violence have been identified as one of the major ways by which we continue to destroy the earth as our home (Gujarati, 2003). Specifically, acts of terrorism such suicide bombing keep destroying not only humans but the environment and other constituents of the earth. This research is therefore committed to identifying the most effective aspect of society that is accountable for the many instances of suicide bombing. To do this effectively, a number of research questions are posed. Research Questions 1. What are the various variables of society that affect the decisions and actions of people most? 2. How does inadequate education and absence of education affect a person’s view of social structure? 3. What are the various challenges that a poorly educated society pose to persons within it with reference to aligning themselves to suicide bombing activities? 4. How may challenges of poor education such as poverty, unemployment, misconception and obsession influence a person’s decision to become a suicide bomber? 5. How has society failed in tackling the ever growing issue of suicide bombing? 6. Are suicide bombers faced with any psychological inadequacies? Hypothesis Low education and absence of education provides the most amount of influence in an individual to become a suicide bomber. Review of the Literature There are a number of researches and literature works that focus on the subject of suicide bombing as a mechanism for carrying out terrorism. These works point out several variables of society that could account for influences on people to become suicide bombers. Some of these variables include religion, education, family, location war and culture. For the sake of the aim of the present study and the hypothesis and research questions posed, the researcher shall narrow to education as an aspect of society that influence individuals to becoming suicide bombers. The review shall briefly be done based on three themes, which are resounded in the research questions. How education affects a person’s view of social structure In a recent research, Henderson, (2003), linked the relationship between the views of people on the social structure of society to the causes of violence including suicide bombing in society. Ultimately, the research established that the more people understand that society is a coordinated system that needs to be kept intact at all time, the better they are in a position to avoid violence so as to protect the core structure of society. Clearly, education is an avenue for which a person will be taught about the basis of social structure. Through education, socialization is made possible and the tendency of thinking that one’s role in society is insignificant is going to be curtailed (Looney, 2002). Essentially, people who have low levels of education will not understand how precious and important their existence in society is and so would think of cruel ways of getting out of this world such as through suicide bombing. Conversely, a well educated will be rid of misconceptions that align violence to popularity and fame. They will also be rid of unemployment and poverty, which leads to social vices including violence and suicide bombing. Neglected Role of Society in tackling the issue of Suicide Bombing Brakke (2004), has argued that society has failed woefully in its interventions towards the eradication of violence such as suicide bombing. He posits that the manner in which international society has adapted counter terrorism as a means of stopping acts of suicide bombing is totally wrong. Drakos and Ali (2004), further argue that the best way to get people out of suicide bombing is through education. This is because according to them, education is the single most effective antidote to overcome all other variables of society such as religion, location and culture that may have their own risks of bringing about acts of suicide bombing. Indeed, these two writers cannot be far from right as education has the power of eroding wrong conceptions that people are likely to develop as a result of their location or their religion or their culture. For example, it will be very difficult to convince an educated Muslim that suicide bombing is a form of holy war because such an inclined Muslim would understand that the religion of Islam is based on the foundations of peace and that peace should always be paramount in his or her dealings (Enders and Todd, 2003). Psychological Inadequacies of Suicide Bombers As the writers above outline the role of education in combating suicide bombing, Sonmez, Yiorgos and Tarlow (1999) on the other hand hold the view that suicide bombers are people who are psychologically inadequate and so it is important to tackle the problem of suicide bombing from a psychological perspective. This is a point that the present researcher does not shall so much. As a matter of fact, the psychological competence of people is something that can be nurtured and appropriated (Schmidt, 2005). If so, education could be found as the best avenue for giving out this intervention. Therefore, instead of looking at suicide bombers as people with psychological inadequacies, it is important to see them as people who need psychological assistance that can best be delivered through education: for after all, psychology is an educational subject. Summary of the Review The review has looked at the role of education and its relation to suicide bombing. The diversities that exist in the opinions of different researchers however makes it clear that the human mind is so complex that it will be difficult to assign a reason to why each person would behave the way he would behave. But with the present research, some of the gaps and unanswered questions on suicide bombing are sure to be answered. Methodology and Research Strategy The present study is being carried out as a qualitative research. Because of this, most of the data collection exercise is going to be done using secondary sources rather than primary sources. This is because most primary sources are better analyzed if quantitative procedures are applied (Schmidt, 2005). That would however defeat the core design of the research, which is a qualitative research. This not withstanding, few primary data will be collected and analyzed in order to give the research a blend of empirical justification and validity. The research design to be used shall be a survey research design. With this research design, data shall be collected from an identified source and later distributed to represent a larger setting (Looney, 2002). To this end, the researcher used a population of all students of whom he had access to their e-mail addresses. There was no sampling technique because all of these students who expressed interest to be part of the research were used. There was a total of fifty (50) respondents. Different variables were tested in the data collection exercise. Some of these variables are listed as follows: i. How religion, culture, location, education and family affected the chances of a person becoming a suicide bomber ii. The solutions that can be given to suicide bombing iii. How lack of education fuels the possibility of a person to becoming a suicide bomber iv. Whether suicide bombers should be seen as people with peculiar psychological problems Because of the nature of the variables, the researcher designed a data collection instrument, which was an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent to the mails of the students and they were given some time to answer them. The next section of the research presents a qualitative presentation of the results that were gathered. Findings and Analysis Aspects of society that influence suicide bombing Of the fifty (50) respondents, thirty-one (31) of them pointed to education as the most influential aspect of society as far as suicide bombing is concerned. These respondents selected education over the other factors with the explanation that education can have influence over all the other factors. Similar results were received from the secondary data collection process whereby greater number of literature that was reviewed gave education as the aspect of society that affects suicide bombing most. In analyzing these results, it could be said that conditions that may cause people to be involved in suicide bombing as well as factors that may cause them to desist from suicide bombing all rested with education. This is because people who are not well educated do not tend to understand the role they can play in society in keeping the social balance running (Looney, 2002). For this reason, they see their exclusion out of this world as no loss to the society. How lack of education fuels the possibility of a person to becoming a suicide bomber Respondents were asked to point to specific ways in which lack of education may fuel the possibility of a person to become a suicide bomber. In the opinion of most of the respondents, poor education or the absence of it leads to several conditions that promote suicide bombing. Some of these conditions are poverty, social vices, unemployment, religious misconception and obsession for wealth. In analyzing this result, which was also reflected in the secondary data collected, it can be said that poor education or the lack of it is a phenomenon that causes a snowball effect in the sense that it triggers several other situations and conditions that make people see suicide bombing as a choice to escaping out of hardship of life. The solutions that can be given to suicide bombing Respondents were also made to suggest the most effective ways of combating suicide bombing. Of the number of respondents who attended to the questionnaire, greater percentage of them indicated that if poor education and lack of education is the cause of suicide bombing, then certainly the solution rested in getting education to all people. Based on this result, it would be said that it is high time international bodies and organizations started channeling their energies towards the fighting of suicide bombing and terrorism in general at the need to make education effective, accessible and affordable to all people. Indeed, the growing generation ought to be taught how important their roles in society is and thus the need to sustain their lives and not giving it away through suicide bombing. Whether suicide bombers should be seen as people with peculiar psychological problems The research also focused on possible justifications that could be given to various acts of terrorism such as suicide bombing. Specifically, psychological justifications were pointed out to respondents. Of all the respondents that answered the questionnaire, only five (5) held the view that psychological justifications should be given to people who undertake suicide bombing. This means that there are always critical issues of social variables that influence the decisions for people to go into suicide bombing other than psychological reasons. If some of these variables of society are tackled and interventions are directed at them, issues of suicide bombing will be reduced if not totally eradicated. Conclusions The present research was dedicated to finding various aspects of society that provides the most amount of influence in an individual to becoming a suicide bomber. This was undertaken with the hypothesis that “Low education and absence of education provides the most amount of influence in an individual to become a suicide bomber.” Literature was therefore reviewed in the area of education and violence. Primary and secondary data collected, as well as the qualitative analysis of the data that was undertaken points to a conclusion that indeed the hypothesis of the researcher could be justified. This is because majority of the respondents including literature sources gave out responses that pointed to the fact that education influences almost all other variables including religion, culture, family and location and so even if any of these variables pose as a threat, they can be succumb with education. This conclusion leads to a solution to suicide bombing and that is the need to extending quality education to all people in other to equip them to understand their roles in society. If suicide bombers understand their importance in society, they would not want to depart from society the suicide bombing way. REFERENCE LIST Brakke, Michael (2004) “International Tourism, Demand, and GDP Implications: A Background and Impirical Analysis,” Undergraduate Economic Review (1). Drakos, Konstantinos and Ali M. Kutan (2003) “Regional Effects of Terrorism on Tourism: Evidence from 3 Mediterranean Countries,” Journal of Conflict Resolution 45 (5).; pp. 621-64. Enders, Walt and Todd Sandler (2003) “An economic perspective on transnational terrorism. Gujarati, Damodar N. (2003), Basic Econometrics, McGraw-Hill, Singapore. Henderson, Joan C. (2003), “Terrorism and Tourism: Managing the Consequences of the Bali Bombings,” Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing 15 (1). Looney, Robert (2002) “Economic Costs to the United States Stemming form the 9/11 Attacks,” Strategic Insights 1 (6). Schmidt, Stephen (2005), Econometrics, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, New York, NY. Sonmez, Sevil, Yiorgos Apostolopoulos and Peter Tarlow (1999) “Tourism in Crisis: Managing the Effects of Terrorism,” Journal of Travel Research. Read More