Syllabus
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Syllabus for IIPS 30401, Terrorism, Peace and Other Inconsistencies, Fall 2006
Course Purpose:
This course addresses a set of inter-related questions that have become central to global peace and security in the modern era:
- What is the history and rationale for contemporary terrorism, including suicide terrorism?
- What does the rise of al-Qaeda terror mean for a host of problematic issues including the relationship between the Western and Islamic worlds, the future of peace in the Middle East, the future of various western foreign policy actions?
- What is the rationale behind the US ‘war on terror' and by what criteria can its success be judged?
- Is the new global security threat (or at least for the west) the combination of WMDs + Terrorism + Rogue/Failed States? What policies best deal with this or like threats?
- What does 'peace' mean in an age of terror and wars onterror? How might we achieve peace in these times?
- How does/should the global community deal with state terrorism in its varied forms?
By the end of the course we expect students to be independent thinkers, conversant citizens, and persuasive commentators regarding these difficult questions. Our aim is that you become more knowledgeable, more thoughtful and more likely to continue to read and learn in this area than 99% of the US population. We hope to achieve this through the following course mechanisms:
- a heavy dose of reading, completed with attention to detail and nuance;
- analytical exercises whereby students sort through their beliefs and assessments;
- on-going, vibrant dialogue among students of somewhat different points of view; and,
- challenging writing assignments, with some emphasis on policy analysis.
Required Reading
- The New York Times – daily newspaper with extensive coverage of national security and terrorism issues.
- R. D. Howard & R.L. Sawyer, eds. Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism. [H&S] McGraw Hill, 2006. 2nd edition.
- Terrorism 05/06 [05] Dushkin, 2004.
- Brigitte L. Nacos. Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism [BN]
- various readings placed on e-reserve [ER]
Course Expectations, Assignments and Grading
Active attendance and Class Commitment
This course asks a lot of students. To be successful in this course you need to be organized about your work, smart about your choices, and committed to reading and to attendance at all class sessions. We also will be using a number of good films and media material in the course which contribute greatly to our understanding of the material. In addition, we will ask students to engage in serious discussion more frequently than is the case in a class this size.
Grading
| Component | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Completion of a few, semi-random writing assignments. A good example is for the first class. | 14% |
| Completion of two essay exams. These will be difficult; actually they will be deadly. | 10% 15% |
| Writing three (3) op-ed pieces like in the NYTimes. Each is 500 words and is a very tight and persuasive essay about a topic involving terrorism and/or our response to it. | 12% 12% 12% |
| Final Examination | 25% |
| 100% |
Honor Code
This course, both within the guidelines of this great university, and due to its importance for peace and security, absolutely must internalize all aspects of academic honesty. When I am presenting material which I did not originate in my own mind, I will acknowledge this intellectual debt in the ppt. slides and elsewhere. So too when you use material from other sources it will need to be fully documented. More discussion on other aspects of the honor code as it effects the op-eds etc will be forthcoming.
