88069 - Terrorism And Counter-Terrorism

Learning outcomes

The objective of the course is to study terrorism, its aims and forms, with a particular focus on counter-terrorism and the measures implemented by the international community and individual states. Students will examine classic and current research on terrorism and counterterrorism, and explore many of the research puzzles that remain unanswered. Specifically, guided by the existing debate among scholars of terrorism, from traditional to critical positions, students will approach: the spectrum of terrorist motivations, strategies, and operations; the socio-political, economic and other factors that can create enabling environments for terrorist group activities; and finally, the means by which governments (especially liberal democratic states) reacted to contemporary forms of terrorist violence in different regions of the world. This comparative analysis will help students develop a complex understanding of historical trends, meanings, contemporary dilemmas and challenges related to this form of political violence.

Course contents

Class 1. Introduction, Class overview and the definition of terrorism

Class 2. International Relations and terrorism: theoretical approaches and gaps

Class 3. History of Terrorism

Class 4. The causes of terrorism and actors

Class 5. Dynamics and issues of radicalisation

Class 6. Terrorism social media and the internet

Class 7. Terrorism and Gender

Class 8. Foreign Fighters, lone wolves & transnational alliances

Class 9. Terrorism, Civil Wars, and Insurgency

Class 10. Geographical Focus: Terrorism & Smuggling in Sahel – Special Guest Lecture

Class 11. Documentary & Discussion: ‘Daesh, Deserters and Their Testimonies’ :

Class 12. Mid-Term

Class 13. Military framework in counterterrorism: a comparative perspective

Class 14. Issues abroad in Counter-Terrorism: Targeted Killings, Drones, and Torture

Class 15. Domestic Issues in Counter-Terrorism: Security vs Freedom & Exceptionalism

Class 16. Community approaches & counter-radicalisation

Class 17. Supranational Approaches: UN– Special Guest Lecture

Class 18. Supranational Approaches: EU

Class 19. Recap & Discussion: Take Aways

Class 20. Final Term

Readings/Bibliography

Useful Textbooks

• Pisou and Jackson (2018) Contemporary Debates on Terrorism, Routledge
• Erica Chenoweth, Richard English, Andreas Gofas, and Stathis N. Kalyvas (2019) The Oxford Handbook of Terrorism

• Silke (2019) Routledge Handbook of Terrorism and Counterterrorism.
• Daniela Pisoiu (2018) Teories of Terrorism: An Introduction, Routledge.

Required Readings (2 per related class)

• Richards, A. and Bryan, D. (2018) Is terrorism still a useful analytical term, or should it be abandoned? Yes and NO, Chapter 1, in Pisou and Jackson (2018), Contemporary Debates on Terrorism.
• Stathis Kalyvas (2018) The Landscape of Political Violence, Chapter 2, in Gofas et al. (2018), The Oxford Handbook of Terrorism

• D’Amato, Silvia (2019), Introduction Chapter 1, in Cultures of Counterterrorism, Routledge
• Wight, C. (2009). Theorising Terrorism: The State, Structure and History.International Relations,23(1), 99–106.https://doi.org/10.1177/0047117808100615

• Martin A. Miller (2018) European Political Violence During the Long 19th Century, in Gofas et al. (2018), The Oxford Handbook of Terrorism
• Luca Falciola (2015): A Bloodless Guerrilla Warfare: Why U.S. White Leftists Renounced Violence Against People During the 1970s, Terrorism and Political Violence, DOI: 10.1080/09546553.2014.982862
• Jeff Goodwin (2018) The Causes of Terrorism, Chapter 17, in Gofas et al. (2018), The Oxford Handbook of Terrorism
• Jeroen Gunning & Richard Jackson(2011)What's so ‘religious’ about ‘religious terrorism’?,Critical Studies on Terrorism,4:3,369-388,DOI:10.1080/17539153.2011.623405 [https://doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2011.623405]

• Heath‐Kelly, C. (2013), Counter‐Terrorism and the Counterfactual: Producing the ‘Radicalisation’ Discourse and the UK PREVENT Strategy. The British Journal of Politics & International Relations, 15: 394-415. doi:10.1111/j.1467-856X.2011.00489.x
• Rajan Basra, Peter R. Neumann (2016) Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures: European Jihadists and the New Crime-Terror Nexus, Perspectives on Terrorism, http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/554/1098

• Katherine E. Brown and Elizabeth Pearson (2019) Social media, the online environment and terrorism, Chapter 13 in A. Silke, Routledge Handbook of Terrorism and Counterterrorism.
• Jytte Klausen (2015) Tweeting the Jihad: Social Media Networks of Western Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 38:1, 1-22, DOI: 10.1080/1057610X.2014.974948

• Alice Martini (2018) Making women terrorists into “Jihadi brides”: an analysis of media narratives on women joining ISIS, Critical Studies on Terrorism, 11:3, 458-477, DOI: 10.1080/17539153.2018.1448204
• Caron E. Gentry (2019) Women and Terrorism, in The Oxford Handbook of Terrorism, Edited by Erica Chenoweth, Richard English, Andreas Gofas, and Stathis N. Kalyvas DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198732914.013.28

• David Malet (2019), Foreign Fighters and Terrorism, in A. Silke, Routledge Handbook of Terrorism and Counterterrorism.
• Ariel Koch (2019): The Non-Jihadi Foreign Fighters: Western Right-Wing and Left-Wing Extremists in Syria, Terrorism and Political Violence, DOI: 10.1080/09546553.2019.1581614

• Kalyvas, S. (2004). The Paradox of Terrorism in Civil War. The Journal of Ethics, 8(1), 97-138. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25115783
• Zambernardi Lorenzo (2010) “Counterinsurgency Impossible Trilemma”,Washington Quarterly, pp. 21-34.

• Michael J. Boyle (2018),The military approach to counterterrorism, chapter 33, in A. Silke, Routledge Handbook of Terrorism and Counterterrorism.
• Geraint Hughes (2001) ‘Counterterrorism: Examples and Implications for Liberal Democracie’, Letort Papers, Strategic Studies Institute, available at: https://ssi.armywarcollege.edu/pdffiles/PUB1066.pdf

• Rory Finegan and Christine Sixta Rinehart (2018) Are drones a useful counterterrorism tool?, Yes & NO, Chapter 13, in Pisou and Jackson (2018), Contemporary Debates on Terrorism.
• Rory Finegan (2018) Targeted killings: perpetual war for perpetual peace? In chapter 41, in A. Silke, Routledge Handbook of Terrorism and Counterterrorism.
• Jesse P. Lehrke and Ivan Greenberg, Is mass surveillance a useful tool in the fight against terrorism? Yes & NO, Chapter 15, in Pisou and Jackson (2018), Contemporary Debates on Terrorism.
• Andrew Neal (2009), The liberty/security discourse and the problem of the exception, in Exceptionalism and the Politics of Counter-Terrorism, Liberty, Security and the War on Terror: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780203867587/chapters/10.4324/9780203867587-6

• Francesco Ragazzi (2016) Suspect community or suspect category? The impact of counter-terrorism as ‘policed multiculturalism’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 42:5, 724-741, DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2015.1121807
• Daniel Koehler and Charlotte Heath-Kelly (2018) Are counter-radicalisation approaches an effective counterterrorist tool? Yes & NO, Chapter 14, in Pisou and Jackson (2018), Contemporary Debates on Terrorism.

• Javier Argomaniz, Oldrich Bures & Christian Kaunert (2015) A Decade of EU Counter-Terrorism and Intelligence: A Critical Assessment, Intelligence and National Security, 30:2-3, 191-206, DOI: 10.1080/02684527.2014.988445
• Jörg Monar (2015) The EU as an International Counter-terrorism Actor: Progress and Constraints, Intelligence and National Security, 30:2-3, 333-356, DOI: 10.1080/02684527.2014.988448

 

For students not attending classes (NON FREQUENTANTI):

• all the above readings and the following book Pisou and Jackson (2018) Contemporary Debates on Terrorism, Routledge

Teaching methods

Seminars, class discussion, presentations

Assessment methods

Class participation: 20%

Presentation: 20%

Mid-term: 30%

Final: 30%

Teaching tools

Power point, videos, documentaries

Office hours

See the website of Silvia D'Amato