CONF 345

Terrorism is a significant factor in conflict worldwide, yet the underlying causes and conditions that give rise to terrorist activity are often misunderstood and misrepresented. Through case studies of terrorist groups around the world, students are presented with an analytic framework to account for terrorist acts and organizations. Explores the various social dynamics underlying the development of terrorism and responses to it. Topics include, but are not limited to, defining terrorism, recruitment into violent groups, dynamics of terrorist organizations, counter-terrorism and human rights concerns, the role of religious and political ideologies in terrorism and counter-terrorism, media coverage of terrorism, and effects of terrorism on social structures and processes.