Terrorism has been well-defined as "the deliberate and systematic murder, maiming, and menacing of the innocent to inspire fear for political ends." Now an established feature of world politics and conflict, terrorism is used by small groups, state agents, and broader insurgent movements to seek political and military results judged difficult or impossible to achieve in the usual political forums or on the battlefield against an army. Terrorism is always political, even when it also has further motives: e.g., religion or economics.
Our study of "Terrorism" dwells on current source materials, questions and challenges—from the newly-relevant Charter of Hamas to emergent terrorism and insurgency among the Baluch people of Pakistan to the question of why the Basque ETA has just suspended all militant actions.
To supply wider context, the course also reaches back to selected major episodes of transnational terrorism of the Cold War and Anarchists of a century ago.
