Early in 2002, the authors wrote to the British Psychological Society saying that we wished to organise a seminar series focusing on the issue of martyrdom and terrorism. We believed that the September 11th 2001 attack on the World Trade Centre, and subsequent developments, had highlighted the question of the role played by religious beliefs and identity in supporting views of violent political activists as terrorists or martyrs - Pettigrew's (1979) ultimate attribution error. However, there was little empirical research (e.g., Cairns, 1982; Kegley, 1990; Reich, 1990; The International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism, 2001).

We wished to initiate a series of working seminars to focus on this question, and to consider ongoing related research in the UK and Ireland. Topics to be discussed would include:

• Terrorism and violence: origins and causes
• Self-righteousness, sense of sanctity
• Political, social and religious activism
• How religious and other groups endorse and support otherwise unacceptable behaviour, e.g., religious suicide, revenge.
  
  

The Scientific Affairs Board of the British Psychological Society generously responded by supporting three one-day seminars entitled Aspects of Terrorism and Martyrdom, two at Royal Holloway, University of London, England, and the final seminar hosted by the University of Ulster at Magee College, Northern Ireland.


Seminars

The first seminar of the series was held on the 1st May 2002, and was hosted by the Department of Psychology and Centre for Ethnic Minority Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London, London, England. The focus of the first seminar was to examine the question "What roles are played by religious beliefs and identity in supporting views of violent activists as terrorists or martyrs?". Eight papers were presented, each followed by a question and answer session.

1. Rogers, M.B., Lewis, C.A., Loewenthal, K.M., Cinnirella, M., & Ansari, H. Aspects of terrorism and martyrdom: Seminar one - What roles are played by religious beliefs and identity in supporting views of violent activists as terrorists or martyrs?
2. Silke, A. The role of the organisation in suicide terrorism.
3. Muldoon, O. Social identity and attitudes and experience of 'the troubles' in Northern Ireland.
4. Taylor, M. & Horgan, J. The psychological and behavioural bases of Islamic fundamentalism.
5. Steven, G.C.S. The relationship between religious beliefs and motivation to join a terrorist group.
6. Gummer, C. & Loewenthal, K.M. British Christian views of suicide bombers.
7. Lewis, C.A., Mullan, M., & Quigley, C.F. Martyrdom, terrorism and September 11th: Beliefs in Northern Ireland.
8. Dein, S. Violence and martyrdom in Islam: An anthropological perspective.
   
   

The second seminar was held on the 13th November 2002, and was again hosted by the Department of Psychology and the Centre for Ethnic Minority Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London, London, England. The focus of the second seminar was to examine the question "what factors influence the process of embracing concepts of terrorism and martyrdom?". Eight papers were presented, each followed by a question and answer session.

1. Amlôt, R., Loewenthal, K.M., Lewis, C.A., Rogers, M.B., Cinnirella, M., & Ansari, H. Aspects of terrorism and martyrdom: Seminar two - What factors influence the process of embracing concepts of terrorism and martyrdom?
2. Ansari, H., Cinnirella, M., Rogers, M.B., Loewenthal, K.M., & Lewis, C.A. Perceptions of martyrdom and terrorism amongst British Muslims.
3. Cox, J. What role for psychiatry?
4. Mee, N. Methodology for analysis of asymmetric actors.
5. Wright, J. International organisation and the response to September 11th.
6. Irwin, C. Giving up the gun? The NLA in Macedonia.
7. Husni, M. Kurdish refugees' view of politically self-motivated harm.
8. Davies, M.F. & Ibison, J. Irrational beliefs in terrorist manifestos and fatwas.
   
   

The third seminar was held on the 30th April 2003, and was hosted by the School of Psychology, University of Ulster at Magee College, Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The focus of the third seminar was focused on exploring organisational contributory factors and socio-religious outcomes of terrorism and martyrdom. Eight papers were presented, each followed by a question and answer session.

1. Lewis, C.A., Rogers, M.B., Amlôt, R., Loewenthal, K.M., Cinnirella, M., & Ansari, H. Aspects of terrorism and martyrdom: Seminar three - Exploring organisational contributory factors and socio-religious outcomes of terrorism and martyrdom.
2. Hewstone, M., Cairns, E., McLernon, F., & Voci, A. Intergroup contact and forgiveness in the wake of terrorism: The case of Northern Ireland.
3. Brander, G. Assessing perceptions through analysis of media news themes.
4. Durodie, B. The cultural precursors and psychological consequences of contemporary western responses to acts of terror.
5. Taylor, A. The theology of violence.
6. Blumberg, H.H. Potential contributions of peace psychology to terrorism research.
7. Lynch, O. Knowing the threat: Al Qaeda's 'New terrorism' and the threat to the West.
8. Lewis, C.A. Aspects of terrorism and martyrdom: Review and reflections.
   
   

In combination, over the three one-day seminars, 24 papers, all of high quality and great interest were presented, and 100 people attended. Presenters were drawn from a variety of disciplines including psychology, sociology, anthropology, peace studies, military studies and theology, and included not only academics, but also a number from military and security organisations.


Acknowledgements

The organisers of the Seminar Series would like to gratefully acknowledge a number of organisations for their support of the project. First, we are indebted to the British Psychological Society who provided us with financial support for the Seminar series. This generous award provided funding of travel grants that facilitated the attendance of a number of our speakers at the seminars in England and Northern Ireland. Second, we greatly acknowledge the practical support of Royal Holloway, University of London and the University of Ulster at Magee College, who both provided us with convivial locations for the seminars, as well as much welcomed complimentary refreshments. Third, we thank the editorial committee of the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction who provided us with this wonderful opportunity to disseminate our work, through the publication of our proceedings, beyond the audiences of our Seminar Series.

We hope that the papers presented provide a stimulus for both academics and practitioners to further examine some of the challenging and contemporary issues raised here. Readers of these Proceedings who wish for more details of individual contributions are invited to contact the authors concerned.

These Proceedings only partially capture what transpired at, and emerged from, the Seminar Series. We believe that the success of the events can not only be measured in terms of the number and wide variety of papers presented, and the quality of discussions entered into, but also, and equally important, in the ongoing dialogue between those who attended the series and beyond. The publication of these proceedings affords us the opportunity to extend this dialogue outside the confines of our Aspects of Terrorism and Martyrdom Seminar Series.


References

Cairns, E. (1982). Intergroup conflict in Northern Ireland. In H. Tajfel (Ed.), Social identity and intergroup relations (pp. 277-298). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Kegley, C.W. Jr. (Ed.). (1990). International terrorism: Characteristics, causes, controls. London: MacMillan.

Pettigrew, T. (1979). The ultimate attribution error. Extending Allport's cognitive analysis of prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 5, 461-476.

Reich, W. (Ed.) (1990). Origins of terrorism: Psychologies, Ideologies, Theologies, states of mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

The International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (Ed.). (2001). Countering suicide terrorism. Herzliya, Israel: The International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism.