TERRORISM & POLITICAL VIOLENCE

Catalog description

This course is a survey of the phenomenon of political violence and an analysis of its causes, forms, and consequences. The course will focus on the following three forms of political violence: terrorism, genocide and assassinations. The course will explore several questions: why do individuals/organizations/states resort to violence instead of pursuing their goals peacefully through routine politics? What accounts for individual and mass support for political violence? What are the psychological, social, and political effects of violence? Is violence more effective in realizing an actor's objectives? The course will focus on current events and past events. This course employs an interdisciplinary approach and will cover both broad/general theories and specific cases from different regions and will include watching few movies and documentaries.