Course Description
Terrorism and its control from a sociological perspective. Topics include the definition of terrorism, history and contemporary patterns of terrorism, reasons for joining terrorist groups, social conditions under which terrorist violence occurs, whether terrorism works, and the effectiveness of counterterrorist strategies.
Athena Title
Global Terrorism
Prerequisite
SOCI 1101 or SOCI 1101H or permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course analyzes the social conditions underlying terrorist violence and the response to it. Students will be expected to understand why definitions of terrorism are so controversial, how terrorism has evolved as one type of political violence, where across the globe terrorism is most prevalent, which organizations are most heavily involved in terrorist attacks, the links between terrorist and criminal organizations, why people become terrorists, what effects terrorism has, including its effects on terrorists’ strategic goals, which broad strategies are most effective in countering terrorism, and how terrorism might evolve in the future. Students will be expected to master the books and journal articles assigned for the course and to engage in focused discussion and writing on the topics. Students will be asked to demonstrate their mastery of the course content in written work that is appropriate for an academic context. Students will be asked to demonstrate their mastery of the course content in speech that is appropriate for an academic context.
Topical Outline
1. Defining “terrorism” 2. History of terrorism 3. Contemporary patterns of terrorism 4. Terrorist organizations 5. Terrorism and crime 6. Becoming a terrorist 7. Causes of terrorist violence 8. Does terrorism work? 9. Countering terrorism 10. The future of terrorism
Syllabus