• Korean Security Journal
• /
• no.43
• /
• pp.37-65
• /
• 2015

There has been discussions and investigation on the nexus between religion and citizen's supports for suicide attacks and terrorist groups conducting such acts. In terms of the relationship, there were two potent hypotheses attempting to explain the process and mechanism of the relationship: religious belief hypothesis and coalitional commitment hypothesis. previous studies examined these hypotheses have been carried out across different cultural, religious, and political contexts. Until today, however, there are still lack of concrete evidence, which is generated from empirical studies, supportive evidence for any of these hypotheses. Therefor this study aims to investigate the association between religion and popular support for suicide attacks by using a survey data collected from three middle east countries, Egypt, Morocco, and Pakistan. In analysis, a step-wised regression analysis conducted with a set of variety of variables considered to be related with the association. This study found that variables reflecting religious belief hypothesis, such as prayer to God, religious devotion were unrelated to support for suicide attacks. Yet, prayer time predicted reduced supports for suicide attacks. Further, attendance at religious services, thought to enhance coalitional commitment, predicted support for suicide attacks. Yet, it showed negative association with support for suicide attacks. These findings suggest that regular attendance at religious services and regular prayer have combined effects reducing on the willing to support for suicide martyrdom. However, this study findings affirmatively support for neigher religious belief hypothesis nor coalitional commitment hypothesis. Instead, it suggests the needs for further research examination on the relationship as well as corrections of these hypotheses. Finally, Implications for the research findings for preventing suicide attacks are discussed.

• Korean Security Journal
• /
• no.11
• /
• pp.61-86
• /
• 2006

Various terrorism in modern society against nation's dignitaries are constantly existing. They damage severely to the society and the nation's security, and they cause disorganizations of social and national rule orders. In order to provide the key figures' perfect protection, the threatening terroizing environment for primary leaders and the route of terrorism should be intercepted. Effective methods of these are summarized as follow. First, recent terrorism against the primary leaders are mostly assassinations, bomb attacks, and suicide bomb attacks, which terminate in a moment. Therefore, security service agents should keep in mind that protection is the best, and government's anti-terrorism agencies should develop policies and set the directions within a new paradigm to the advance anti-terrorism. Second, advance prevention activities against nation's VIP terrorism should be strengthened, such as strengthening security informational activities, constructing cooperative systems of domestic and international facilities, considering continuous system to prevent terrorism, and intensifying safety counterplans of human and material weak points. Third, international cooperative system should be set to apply economical and political sanctions to nations which support terror organizations in direct or indirect ways, and this system needs to strengthen the punishment against terrorists. Fourth, security systems to protect nation's primary leaders should complement, and developing programs for coping with the terrorism and establishing laws for anti-terrorism should be made. Also, educational training of agents who perform anti-terrorism duties should be strengthened, and scientific techniques and equipment for security should be made to protect primary leaders from terrorism.