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Suicide Attacks in International Humanitarian Law: Culture, Agency, and Combatant Deaths

Coming Soon Suicide Attacks in International Humanitarian Law: Culture, Agency, and Combatant Deaths

Suicide Attacks in International Humanitarian Law: Culture, Agency, and Combatant Deaths

Author: Vishakha V. Wijenayake
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780197812143
Published In: June 2026
Format: Hardback
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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Contents

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Although International Humanitarian Law regulates various aspects of warfare, it remains silent on suicide attacks. Suicide Attacks and International Humanitarian Law interrogates this omission, arguing that it reflects underlying biases and rigid binaries within International Humanitarian Law that struggle to accommodate complex narratives of agency surrounding the deaths of suicide attackers.

In this comparative study, Vishakha V. Wijenayake juxtaposes International Humanitarian Law principles with cultural narratives surrounding three distinct cases: the Kamikaze pilots of World War II, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's female suicide attackers in the Sri Lankan non-International Armed Conflict, and martyrdom operations conducted by jihadist non-State armed groups. Integrating insights from anthropology, philosophy, and religious studies, this book analyzes the nuanced embodiments of agency in these contexts, revealing how cultural depictions of suicide attackers challenge International Humanitarian Law's traditional victim-perpetrator binary. These narratives present suicide attackers not as passive instruments of violence, but as individuals whose actions are laden with cultural and collective meanings that unsettle International Humanitarian Law's reductive approach to combatant agency.

Through its analysis, Suicide Attacks and International Humanitarian Law forwards a critical framework for engaging with diverse conceptions of intentionality and agency, advocating for more culturally inclusive approaches within International Humanitarian Law.

1:The Narrative Nuances of IHL

2:The Contested Agency in Suicide Attackers' Deaths

3:Kamikaze Attacks and the Limits of Risk in Combat

4:LTTE Female Suicide Attackers and Gendered Agency in Combat

5:Jihadi Martyrdom Operations and IHL: Between the Secular and the Religious

6:Conclusion