Political Self-Sacrifice Over the last decade the increasing phenomenon of suicide terrorism has raised questions about how it might be rational for individuals to engage in such acts. This book examines a range of different forms of political self-sacrifice, including hunger strikes, self-burning and non-violent martyrdom, all of which have taken place in resistance to foreign interference. Karin Fierke sets out to study the strategic and emotional dynamics that arise from the image of the suffering body, including political contestation surrounding the identification of the victim as a terrorist or martyr, the meaning of the death as suicide or martyrdom and the extent to which this contributes to the reconstruction of community identity. Political Self-Sacrifice offers a counterpoint to rationalist accounts of international terrorism in terrorist and security studies, and is a novel contribution to the growing literature on the role of emotion and trauma in international politics. k. m. fierke is Professor of International Relations in the School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews. Her books include Changing Games, Changing Strategies: Critical Investigations in Security (1998), Diplomatic Interventions: Conflict and Change in a Globalizing World (2005), Critical Approaches to International Security (2007) and an edited collection with Knud Erik Jorgensen, International Relations: The Next Generation (2001). She has also published widely on topics related to constructivism and security as well as trauma, memory and political violence in a range of internationally recognized journals, including International Studies Quarterly, the European Journal for International Relations, International Theory, the Review of International Studies and Millennium Journal of International Studies. in this web service
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Cambridge Studies in International Relations: 125 Political Self-Sacrifice editors Christian Reus-Smit Nicholas J. Wheeler editorial board James Der Derian, Martha Finnemore, Lene Hansen, Robert Keohane, Rachel Kerr, Inderjeet Parmar, Jan Aart Scholte, Peter Vale, Kees van der Pijl, Jutta Weldes, Jennifer Welsh, William Wohlforth Cambridge Studies in International Relations is a joint initiative of Cambridge University Press and the British International Studies Association (BISA). The series will include a wide range of material, from undergraduate textbooks and surveys to research-based monographs and collaborative volumes. The aim of the series is to publish the best new scholarship in International Studies from Europe, North America and the rest of the world. in this web service
Cambridge Studies in International Relations 124 Stefano Guzzini The return of geopolitics in Europe? Social mechanisms and foreign policy identity crises 123 Bear F. Braumoeller The great powers and the international system Systemic theory in empirical perspective 122 Jonathan Joseph The social in the global Social theory, governmentality and global politics 121 Brian C. Rathbun Trust in international cooperation International security institutions, domestic politics and American multilateralism 120 A. Maurits van der Veen Ideas, interests and foreign aid 119 Emanuel Adler and Vincent Pouliot International practices 118 Ayşe Zarakol After defeat How the East learned to live with the West 117 Andrew Phillips War, religion and empire The transformation of international orders 116 Joshua Busby Moral movements and foreign policy 115 Séverine Autesserre The trouble with the Congo Local violence and the failure of international peacebuilding 114 Deborah D. Avant, Martha Finnemore and Susan K. Sell Who governs the globe? 113 Vincent Pouliot International security in practice The politics of NATO Russia diplomacy 112 Columba Peoples Justifying ballistic missile defence Technology, security and culture Series list continues after index in this web service
Political Self-Sacrifice Agency, Body and Emotion in International Relations k. m. fierke University of St Andrews in this web service
cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Mexico City The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by, New York Information on this title: /9781107029231 # K. M. Fierke 2013 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of. First published 2013 Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by the MPG Books Group A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data Fierke, K. M. (Karin M.) Political self-sacrifice : agency, body and emotion in international relations / K. M. Fierke. p. cm. (Cambridge studies in international relations: 125 political self-sacrifice) ISBN 978-1-107-02923-1 (Hardback) 1. International relations Psychological aspects. 2. Self-sacrifice Political aspects. I. Title. JZ1253.F54 2012 327.101 0 9 dc23 2012023307 ISBN 978-1-107-02923-1 Hardback has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. in this web service
In memory of Mateo Castrillon (1993 2012) in this web service
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Contents List of figures Acknowledgements Introduction page x xi l Part I The Framework 1 Political self-sacrifice 33 2 Agency 55 3 Body and emotion 78 Part II The Historical Cases 4 Hunger strikes in Northern Ireland, 1980 1981 107 5 Martyrdom in Poland, 1984 134 6 Self-immolation in Vietnam, 1963 160 Part III Comparisons and Conclusions 7 Martyrdom in the contemporary Middle East and north Africa 193 8 The public diplomacy of suffering 228 Bibliography 248 Index 274 ix in this web service
Figures 1.1 The body of self-sacrifice: contesting games page 47 2.1 The prisoner s choice structure 73 2.2 The warden s dilemma 74 4.1 Shifting games in Northern Ireland 127 5.1 Shifting games in Poland 154 x in this web service
Acknowledgements This project began with an observation regarding the use of the labels suicide terrorism and martyrdom to refer to the human bomb. While the language of martyrdom is often dismissed as the mere propaganda of terrorists, I questioned what was being communicated in the use of these two terms and the dynamics generated by these different meanings for the same phenomenon. After presenting the paper Agents of death: the structural logic of suicide terrorism and martyrdom at a workshop in honour of Professor Raymond Duvall at the University of Minnesota, Professor Kathy Hochstetler suggested that I look at other forms of bodily self-sacrifice, such as self-immolation. My first thanks must go to her, since, without her suggestion, I might not have taken the project in this particular direction. I would also like to thank a few people who played a significant role in the research. A second inspiration for this work was an article I co-authored with Khaled Fattah (Fattah and Fierke 2009). Khaled also provided research assistance on the article arising from the workshop mentioned above (Fierke 2009b), as well as comments on Chapter 7. Janina Skrzypek did a tremendous job organizing our research trip to Poland, and guiding me through the cities and archives with unceasing insights into Polish culture. My niece, Johanna Fierke, deserves thanks for taking time from her busy university schedule to carry out archival research of documents from Vietnam that I was unable to access in the United Kingdom. I would also like to thank the Linenhall Library in Belfast and the Charta Institute in Warsaw for allowing me access to their archives. Several people have read major portions of this book at different stages of its production and have provided valuable feedback, including Ian Austin, Tarak Barkawi, Robert Burgoyne, Richard English, Nick Rengger, Janina Skrzypek and, last but certainly not least, Mary Jane Fox, who waded through the almost final text before it was sent off to the publisher, and Beatrix Futak-Campbell, who prepared the xi in this web service
xii Acknowledgements index. I also would like to thank the co-editors of the BISA Cambridge Studies in International Relations series, Nick Wheeler and Chris Reus-Smit, for their enthusiasm for the book, as well as John Haslam, the politics editor for, Carrie Parkinson, the politics, sociology and psychology editor, and the reviewers, who provided very helpful feedback. This project has developed over a six-year period, during which various chapters have been presented at workshops or conferences and many individuals have raised insightful questions and provided comments. These have included, among others, Emanuel Adler, Kenneth Booth, Naomi Head, Chris Brown, Neta Crawford, James Der Derian, Faye Donnelly, Rick Fawn, Caron Gentry, Lene Hansen, Christoph Humrich, Kimberley Hutchings, Marcus Kornprobst, Ron Krebs, George Lawson, Richard Ned Lebow, Jennifer Mitzen, Cerwyn Moore, Jeffrey Murer, Nicholas Onuf, Taryn Shepperd, Duncan Snidal, Jens Steffek, William Thomson, Alexander Wendt, Antje Wiener, Tim Wilson and Maja Zehfuss. in this web service