Course Description. Required Readings

Transcription

1 RPAD/RPOS 554: Terrorism and Political Violence Understanding Terrorism, Insurgency and Civil Conflict Dr. Brian Nussbaum Spring 2016 Th 5:45-8:35, Husted 208 Course Description This course is designed to give a theoretical and substantive understanding of numerous varieties of non state violence, and how states respond to it. This is a field that has grown rapidly in salience and interest both in the public policy sphere and in the scholarly one. As such, there has been a growth in the analysis of these issues some of it good, some of it bad, and much of it ugly. In this course we will be parsing through much of this analysis, looking at the key discussions in the field, examining the policy impacts of conflict analysis, and looking into individual conflicts and militant organizations. Non-state political violence has become one of the major public policy issues in both US foreign policy, as well increasingly in domestic policy (i.e. Homeland Security). The terms for these activities are myriad: terrorism, militancy, insurgency, guerilla warfare, low-intensity conflict, civil war, to name but a few. The responses too span far and wide in terms of their depth, scope, goals, means and resourcing; from counterinsurgency, to counterterrorism, to traditional policing and intelligence work. This course will examine terrorism and political violence theoretically, drawing on frames from comparative politics, economics, criminal justice, demographics, and the study of technology, among other social scientific approaches. We will also examine terrorism and political violence more substantively, including looking at individual conflicts, violent organizations and activists, government responses and policies, and future trajectories of political violence. By combining the conceptual models with the practical case studies - the systematic social scientific approach with the real world of policy - this course is designed to offer insights into who engages in political violence, why they do it, where and when such violence is likely, and how governments respond to it. Required Readings For purchase: 1. Lichbach, Mark. And Alan Zuckerman. (1997) Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture and Structure. Cambridge University Press. 2. Joes, Anthony James. (2004) Resisting Rebellion: The History and Politics of Counterinsurgency. University Press of Kentucky. 3. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks. (2004) The 9/11 Commission Report. W.W. Norton and Company. 4. Hobswawm, Eric. (1969/2000) Bandits. The New Press. 5. Sinno, Abdulkader. (2008) Organizations at War: in Afghanistan and Beyond. Cornell University Press. 6. Harris, Shane. The Rise of the Military-Internet Complex. Houghton Mifflin. 1

2 Available online: Other readings (except several journal articles which must be accessed through JSTOR/EBSCO/etc.) are available online. Course Requirements Class Participation 30% Reading Response Papers (6 x 5%) 30% Research Paper 40% - Proposal and Peer Review 10% - Paper 25% - Presentation 5% 1. Class Participation This course is a seminar and therefore regular attendance and active participation are mandatory. Unlike a typical course, which is designed around a series of lectures by the professor, in a seminar the professor frames discussions and debates that will arise from the readings and students presentations. The seminar format does not work if you are not prepared - with thorough responses to all reading assignments, the professor s questions, and engaged with your fellow students. The burden is on you to add something substantive to each discussion and move the seminar s collective understanding of the topic forward. In short, you will be doing most of the work. - Always come prepared to discuss how the readings fit into class themes. - Always bring the assigned readings for that week s discussion to class. - Always bring a hard copy of any assigned response paper 2. Reading Response Papers For 6 of the 14 Classes (not counting the first one) you will be expected to submit Reading Response Papers. These 2-3 page response papers are designed to make you synthesize the information you ve read for the week. These papers are due at the beginning of class on the day those readings are to be done. When writing your responses, try to think about some basic questions: - What do these readings have in common? How do they differ? - Do they address similar questions? - Do they agree? Disagree? Complement each other? Seem dissonant? - Do they use similar methods? - Why would these readings be put together? (In conjunction, how do they illustrate dynamics of political violence better than they might alone?) The Response Papers will be graded according to a simple scale of: 5 points) Strong Analysis and Synthesis basically an A 4 points) Acceptable Analysis basically a B 3 or less) Unacceptable/Incomplete basically a C or lower 3. Research Paper Further details on the research paper (including the proposal, peer-review process, and presentation) will be distributed early in the semester. 2

3 Date Topic Readings 1/21 Introduction 1) Battle of Algiers 1/28 Comparative Politics and a Case Study: Suicide Bombing 1) Lichbach, Mark. And Alan Zuckerman. (1997) Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture and Structure. Cambridge University Press. Chapters 1-4 2) Pape, Robert. (2003) The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism. American Political Science Review. 3) Atran, Scott. (2006) The Moral Logic and Growth of Suicide Terrorism. The Washington Quarterly. 4) Boot, Max. (2011) Suicide by Bomb: Misunderstanding a Weapon in the Terrorist's Arsenal. The Weekly Standard. 2/4 Theorizing Varieties of Political Violence 1) Merari, Ariel. (1995) Terrorism as a Strategy of Insurgency. Terrorism and Political Violence. 2) Darley, William. (2006) Clausewitz's Theory of War and Information Operations. Joint Forces Quarterly. 3) US Military Academy. (Undated) Insurgents vs. Guerillas vs. Terrorists. 4) Kiras, James. (2009) Irregular Warfare: Terrorism and Insurgency. in Baylis (ed) Strategy in the Contemporary World: An Introduction to Strategic Studies. Oxford University Press. 3

4 2/11 Insurgency and Counter- Insurgency 1) Joes, Anthony James. (2004) Resisting Rebellion: The History and Politics of Counterinsurgency. University Press of Kentucky. Chapters 1-6 2) Weinstein, Jeremy. (2005) Resources and The Information Problem in Rebel Recruitment. JCR. 3) CIA. (Undated) Guide to the Analysis of Insurgency. 4) Kilcullen, David. (2006) Counterinsurgency Redux. Survival. 48(4) /18 Terrorism 1) Ganor, Boaz. (Undated) Defining Terrorism: Is One Man's Terrorist Another Man's Freedom Fighter. 2) Rapoport, David. (2004) The Four Waves of Modern Terrorism. 3) Cragin, Kim. And Sara Daly. (2005) The Dynamic Terrorist Threat: An Assessment of Group Motivations and Capabilities in a Changing World. 4) Asal, Victor. And Karl Rethemeyer. The Nature of the Beast: Organizational Structures and the Lethality of Terrorist Attacks. 4

5 2/25 Global Terrorism 1) Aydinli, Ersel. (2010) Before Jihadists There Were Anarchists: A Failed Case of Transnational Violence. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. 2) Rabasa et al. (2006) Beyond Al Qaeda: The Global Jihadist Movement. RAND. Chapters ) Hegghammer, Thomas. (2010) The Rise of Muslim Foreign Fighters: Islam and the Globalization of Jihad. International Security. 4) Gerges, Fawaz. (2014) ISIS and the Third Wave of Jihadism. Current History. 5) Zelin, Aaron. (2014) The War Between ISIS and Al Qaeda For Supremacy of the Global Jihadist Movement. WINEP. 3/3 Counter-Terrorism 1) 9/11 Commission Report. Chapters 3, 4, 8, 10 2) Myrhvold, Nathan. (2013) Strategic Terrorism: A Call to Action. 3) Steiner, James. (2009) Needed: State-Level, Integrated Intelligence Enterprises. Studies in Intelligence. The Central Intelligence Agency. 4) Kilcullen, David. Countering Global Insurgency. 5

6 3/10 Structure Geography, Politics and Economics 1) Fearon, James. And David Laitin. (1999) Weak States, Rough Terrain, and Large Scale Ethnic Violence Since ) Voigtlander, Nico. and Hans-Joachim Voth. (2011) Presecution Perpetuated: The Medieval Origins of Anti- Semitic Violence in Nazi Germany. 3) Abadie, Alberto. (2004) Poverty, Political Freedom and the Roots of Terrorism. NBER. 4) Sambanis, Nicholas. (2001) Do Ethnic and Non-Ethnic Civil Wars Have the Same Causes? The World Bank. 5) Kaplan, Robert. (1994) The Coming Anarchy. The Atlantic Monthly. SPRING BREAK 3/24 Crime, Illicit Markets and Social Banditry 1) Hobswawm, Eric. (1969/2000) Bandits. The New Press. 2) Peters, Gretchen. (2010) Crime and Insurgency in the Tribal Areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. USMA CTC. Pages 1-10, ) Rollins, John. and Liana Sun Wyler. (2010) International Terrorism and Transnational Crime: Security Threats, US Policy and Considerations for Congress. Congressional Research Service. 4) Fishman, Brian (ed). (2008) Bombers, Bank Accounts and Bleedout: Al Qaida's Road In and Out of Iraq. USMA CTC. Chapter 4 6

7 3/31 Culture Religion and Ideology 1) Huntington, Samuel. (1993) The Clash of Civilizations? Foreign Affairs. 2) Tucker, David. (2001) What's New About the New Terrorism and How Dangerous Is It? Terrorism and Political Violence. 3) McCants, William. et al. (2006) The Militant Ideology Atlas. USMA CTC. 4) Case Study: Oslo Norway Attacks - Time - Killers Manifesto: The Politics Behind the Norway Slaughter 0.html - Hegghammer/NYT - The Rise of the Macro-Nationalists - Breivik s Manifesto 4/7 Technology and Cyber Conflict 1) Ranstorp, Magnus. (2006) The Virtual Sanctuary of Al Qaeda and Terrorism in the Age of Globalization. 2) Harris, Shane. The Rise of the Military- Internet Complex. Houghton Mifflin. 3) Citizen Lab Reports on Insurgent and COIN Uses of Cyber Attacks: ISIS (2014): Syrian Government: ance4d.pdf 4) Asal, Victor. And Gary Ackerman and Karl Rethemeyer. (undated) Connections Can Be Toxic: Terrorist Organizational Factors and the Pursuit of CBRN Terrorism. 7

8 4/14 Rational Actor - Individuals and Organizations 1) Beam, Louis. (1983) "Leaderless Resistance." The Seditionist. 2) Sinno, Abdulkader. (2008) Organizations at War: in Afghanistan and Beyond. Cornell University Press. Chapters 1-4, 8 3) Hegghammer, Thomas. (2013) Should I Stay or Should I Go? Explaining Variation in Western Jihadists Choice Between Domestic and Foreign Fighting. APSR. 4/21 Conclusion and Moving Forward 1) Remote Control Warfare: Cyberspace: An Assessment of Current Threats, Real Consequences and Potential Solutions: New Ways of War: Is Remote Control Warfare Effective: 2) Climate Change: DoD Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap: CAN National Security and the Accelerating Risks of Climate Change: 4/28 Presentations of Final Papers and Wrap Up 8