Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 1 session / week, 2 hours / session
Requirements
This class will be run as a seminar and students are expected to do all readings and participate in class discussions. Apart from class attendance and participation, students will be expected to serve as discussants at least twice during the semester (depending on class enrollment). In the week that they are assigned to be class discussants, students will have to critically review the assigned readings and give a 15 minute presentation of the general points made by the authors, highlighting the related as well as conflicting arguments, and underlying the respective works’ analytical strengths and weaknesses. Discussant assignments will be made the first week of class. A 2-3 page memo on the points that are intended to be discussed should be emailed to the instructor by midnight on the day before the class presentation.
Students will also have to write a 20-30 page paper due during the last week of class. The paper can be a research design paper or a draft of a paper intended for publication. If it is the latter, it should contain a theoretical argument and an empirical test of that argument. Paper topics must be based on one of the main themes of the course and approved by the instructor. A one-page description of the paper topic will be due in Ses #6 of class and a 15-minute presentation for class feedback in Ses #9. Though the one-page paper topic description and the presentation will not be graded, they will be great opportunities to get feedback on the prospective paper and should be utilized as such.
Grading
| ACTIVITIES | PERCENTAGES |
|---|---|
| Discussant sessions | 30% |
| Class participation | 30% |
| Final seminar paper | 40% |
Eligibility for Enrollment
Graduate students and advanced undergraduates.
Calendar
| SES # | TOPICS | KEY DATES |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction | |
| 2 | Warlords | |
| 3 | Terrorism | |
| 4 | Religion and terrorism | |
| 5 | Suicide terrorism | |
| 6 | Suicide terrorism (cont.) | Paper topic due |
| 7 | Terrorist strategies and networks | |
| 8 | State-sponsored terrorism | |
| 9 | Class presentations | |
| 10 | Para-statal militias | |
| 11 | Private military firms | |
| 12 | Countering violent non-state actors; conclusion | Final paper due |
