Women Suicide Bombing Networks in Iraq - Makeup and Motivation

Anthony Schultz

Background

A rich database of suicide bombings has been made available by the University of Chicago’s Project on Security & Threats. This database has detailed information on each suicide bombing since 1974, including biographic and demographic data on each attack and attacker. I plan to use this data to construct a network that analyzes female bombers in Iraq. Comparisons will then be drawn to networks of male suicide bombers to determine how network composition differs.

Research Question

The research question for this network analysis is still preliminary but will, at a minimum, explore the composition of women suicide bombers in Iraq compared to male bombers. Influencing factors will be explored including methods of attack against a variety of target types. The research question might include:

-       Does the composition of networks suicide bombers belong to differ across women and men attackers?

-       Do approaches to carrying out suicide bombings differ between men and women attackers?

-       What conclusions can be drawn from women bombers that align with or break normative ideas of femininity?

Methods of Analysis

Twenty-five attackers will be selected from each pool of suicide attackers in Iraq between the years 2004 and 2010. A network of each of group will be constructed using data provided by the database supplemented by archival news of each individual attacker that provides biographical insight. The same time period and geographic location will be used to better facilitate the analysis. Biographical information to obtain in addition to the dataset includes:

• Hometown, birthplace
• Location of the attack
• Attacker’s age
• Existence of family
• Extremist tendency of relatives or friends

Framing

One way to frame this analysis will be to adopt the role as a consultant for a burgeoning terrorist organization that seeks to use suicide bombings as means to attain its objectives. Positing the network analysis in this frame will facilitate projections based on conclusions made and might aid in the prediction of future potential actions of in the realm of suicide bombings for terrorist organizations.

Other Analyses
A rich display of conclusions using data visualizations will accompany the network analysis to provide an audience with varied stimuli to interpret the conclusions. Tableau will be used to create these visualizations using the data provided by the University of Chicago, and a rich digital experience using these visualizations will accompany network maps.