EXPC-6054 Terrorism and Conflict: Issues and Perspectives (Online Course) (original) (raw)
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IPS 6055: Terrorism and Conflict: Issues and Perspectives
1. Course Description: Terrorism is one of the most elusive concepts to define. Definition of Terrorism is controversial for reasons other than conceptual issues and problems. Because labeling actions as terrorism promotes condemnation of the actors, a definition may reflect ideological or political bias. Once freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi or Nelson Mandela were also labeled as terrorists. In this course we will focus on terrorism and related forms of political violence from a comparative and global perspective. This course will provide a theoretical and empirical understanding and explanation of terrorism. It will try to look at definitions, the prevalence of terrorism, techniques, the choice of targets, the effects of the media, and sources of support. The course will also look at different types of terrorist organizations including ones that are primarily seeking to attain ideological objectives, groups with an ethnic or nationalist agenda, organizations with religious motivations, and those groups with a mixture of motives that are difficult to disentangle. A portion of the course will also look at the state sponsored terrorism. In addition, it will look at counterterrorism and counterinsurgency techniques, including the effects that such activities can have on civil liberties. Finally, the relative success or failure of terrorist groups in achieving their objectives will be evaluated as part of the process of determining what the future is likely to hold. 2. Course Objectives: The learning objectives for the course include but are not limited to: i. Develop a basic understanding of terrorism—including its causes and consequences ii. Introduce students to the history of terrorism and the landscape of terrorist groups iii. Familiarize students with the main themes and debates in the academic literature on terrorism iv. Place terrorism as a technique within the broader context of conflicts in political society, v. Sensitize students to the methodological challenges involved in the study of terrorism vi. Equip students with perspectives and tools to better understand the behaviour of terrorist groups vii. Evaluate the relative success (or failure) of terrorist groups in terms of achieving their goals or achieving some positive (from the their perspective) objectives, viii. Equip students to think critically about past, present, and future terrorism events and analyze them within an appropriate context, and ix. Evaluate what the future of terrorism will be.
Introduction The topic of terrorism is both complex and emotive. It is complex because it combines so many different aspects of human experience, including subjects such as politics, psychology, philosophy, military strategy, and history, to name a few. Terrorism is also emotive both because experiences of terrorist acts arouse tremendous feelings, and because those who see terrorists as justified often have strong feelings concerning the rightness of the use of violence. Without a doubt, terrorism evokes strong feelings whenever it is discussed. A key challenge of understanding terrorism is both acknowledging the moral outrage at terrorist acts, while at the same time trying to understand the rationale behind terrorism. Terrorism is not a new phenomenon in human experience. Violence has been used throughout human history by those who chose to oppose states, kings, and princes. This sort of violence can be differentiated from what is termed as terrorism. Violence in opposition to a government is often targeted against soldiers and those who govern. Terrorism, however, is characterized by the use of violence against civilians, with the expressed desire of causing terror or panic in the population. Terrorism is not unique to the 20th and 21st centuries. Terrorism existed in 18th century revolutionary France during the reign of terror, as well as among the Zealots of Palestine in opposition to Roman rule some 2000 years ago. Arriving at a consensual definition of the phenomenon of terrorism has been a particularly difficult undertaking. Some definitions are either too specific or too vague, concentrating on some essential “terrorist” aspect of the actions, strategies, or types of non-state organizations that engage in terrorism. In this paper we draw on global approaches from international relations and world systems theories to propose a definition of terrorism that skirts these issues by concentrating on terrorist actors rather than terrorist behavior. Arguing that this approach has several advantages, including the dissolution of several empirical and analytical problems produced by more essentialist definitions, and the location of terrorism within a two dimensional continuum of collective-violence phenomena in the international system which discloses important theoretical insights. We proceed to examine the characteristics of terrorism by comparing it with other forms of violence in the international system. I propose that terrorism may be defined as being part of the cycles and trends of unrest in the world system, responding to the same broad families of global dynamics as other forms of system-level conflict. It is no secret that arriving at a consensual definition of terrorism is a difficult task. Some might say that constructing a characterization of terrorism that would be satisfactory for everyone is a downright impossible undertaking. It is much easier to point out the flaws in extant conceptions and usages of the term than to come up with a definition that would be free of those same faults, while being comprehensive enough to be both acceptable to most lay observers and useful for the conduct of academic research on the subject. Taking a birds-eye view of the field, it is clear what is wrong with current characterizations of terrorism: they are either too specific or too vague, they concentrate on particular (and theoretically arbitrary) aspects of the phenomenon while de-emphasizing others, or are too normatively oriented, mixing up descriptive and prescriptive terminology.
PERSPECTIVES ON TERRORISM Volume II, Issue 4 How to Define Terrorism
Terrorist insurgencies, in all their configurations and local conflicts, constitute the primary warfare threat facing the international community. This is especially the case following September 2001, when al Qaida demonstrated that it had world class ambitions to inflict catastrophic damages on its adversaries. In other conflicts, such as the Palestinian-Israeli arena, terrorist rebellions are primarily localized. Because of the worldwide reach of al Qaida and its affiliates, including the spontaneous emergence of al Qaida-inspired groupings and cells in Western Europe, North America, and elsewhere, many nations have been upgrading their homeland security defenses and calling on their academic communities to provide analytical understanding of the nature and magnitude of the threat and how to counteract and resolve it. As a result, terrorism courses, research institutes and certificate programs have been proliferating at universities and other academic institutions around the world. Despite the great attention being devoted to terrorism studies; however, there is no consensus about the most fundamental starting point in terrorism studies: how to define terrorism.
Terrorism: a critical introduction
2011
"In the years since 9/11, terrorism has been transformed into an issue of global significance. Terrorism and the war on terror has affected virtually every aspect of modern life, and a precise understanding of terrorism is now more important – and contentious – than ever. This innovative text provides a much-needed critical introduction to terrorism. Cutting-edge research on contemporary issues is combined with new insights into long-debated issues such as the definition of terrorism, the nature of the terrorist threat and counter-terrorism strategies. Showing that the methods we adopt as well as the material we study are vital for a clear understanding of the subject, this text goes beyond traditional IR approaches to rethink popular beliefs and assumptions about terrorism. Taking a genuinely global and integrated approach, this book is an ideal entry into the study of terrorism. The text is supported by: • International case studies from around the world • A detailed glossary introducing key actors, events and concepts relating to terrorism • Learning aids to stimulate critical thinking, including discussion questions, further readings and selected web resources."
Terrorism, Violence, and Politics
The purpose of this course is twofold-to learn about the academic literature on terrorism and to spur new ideas about how to enhance it. Substantively, we will focus on answering three unresolved questions about terrorism: (1) What are its consequences? (2) What are its causes? (3) What are the implications for counterterrorism strategy?
Terrorism: Origin, Nature, Causes, and Trends Revisited
IAR Consortium, 2021
Terrorism has remained one of the gravest threats to contemporary global advancement and sustainable development. No meaningful development can be achieved in societies beset by conflicts. In many contemporary societies, attained developmental gains have been reversed by upheavals and years of conflicts. The level of global insecurity has in recent times been accentuated by dimension of the conflicts in Syria, Yemen, Libya, and Iraq. The environment of the failed state of Somalia has indeed become very important in any discourse of currency regarding global security/insecurity architecture. The collapse of the Somali state over three decades ago left in its wake an ungoverned environment which has been exploited by the international Islamist Organizations to develop a "viable" terrorist hub in the Horn of Africa. The alliance of the local Somali Islamists, the al-Shabaab, with the al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and the ISIS increased the security profile of Somalia. The Libyan domestic conflict also escalated the Boko Haram insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin and throw up a strong and very connected Islamic State in West Africa Province. The linkage of al-Shabaab with the Islamist insurgency in Nigeria, and the upheaval in Yemen has rekindled global attention to the increased attention to the study of Terrorism. It is in this light that this paper devotes itself to going back to the basics in the study of terrorism: the definition, origin, causes and trends. It is the contention of this paper that a good understanding of these perspective will present veritable instruments in the efforts at dealing with Global Terrorism.
Editors' introduction: terrorism – myths, agendas and research
Critical Studies on Terrorism, 2010
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