Admission requirements
Students must be enrolled in the CSM Master program;
At least 8 students must enroll for the course to take place;
A maximum of 30 students can participate, on a first come, first serve basis.
Description
This course gives an outline of (the study of) the phenomenon of (counter-) terrorism and radicalisation. This is followed by an in-depth analysis of the number 1 issue on today’s counterterrorism agendas in Europe: European citizens and residents fighting in the civil war in Syria. These persons are also referred to as ‘jihadist foreign fighters’, ‘global jihadists’, ‘mujahideen’ or simply ‘travellers’. The course investigates this specific phenomenon from various theoretical perspectives, ranging from the literature on agenda setting to radicalisation theories. It aims to provide answers to the fundamental questions: Who are these foreign fighters, do they pose a threat or not, and who should do what in order to deal with this ‘wicked problem’?
Course objectives
- Students are able to reproduce the history and state of the art of terrorism studies and to differentiate between the main definitional, conceptual and theoretical approaches with regard to the phenomenon of terrorism, extremism, radicalization, and foreign fighters, such as rational approaches versus (socio)psychological approaches and the importance of different lenses to look through (structural lens, group lens, or individual lens)
- Students are able to differentiate between specific features of the phenomenon of terrorism and foreign fighters, such as the role of leadership, concept of leaderless jihad, concept of swarming, role of social media, role of propaganda and recruitment, characteristics of (jihadist) foreign fighters.
- Students are able to define the governance challenges and consequences of different approaches to deal with terrorism and foreign fighters, such as the distinction between policies and strategies, soft versus hard measures, preventive versus repressive measures, broad/holistic/whole of government/multi-stakeholder approaches, the concept of wicked problem and the concept of security through governance.
- Students are able to analyze the complex phenomena of terrorism and foreign fighters and ways to deal with this ’wicked problem’ using the key characteristics associated with this concept such as lack of definition of the problem, many stakeholders, constantly changing phenomenon, etc.
- Students are able to compare, assess and critical reflect on policies and strategies (with best practices) of counter terrorism and counter foreign fighters in terms of effectiveness by critically using and assessing (primary) sources of information, in particular governmental sources and social media
- Students are able to critical reflect by using theoretical and empirical knowledge the approaches to manage or govern terrorism and the foreign fighter phenomena at the national and/or local level, and at the EU level (the EU CT and CR strategies)
- Students are able to present examples of terrorism and foreign fighters and their specific features, relevant processes and governance challenges, analyze the approaches to manage or govern the terrorism and foreign fighter phenomena and translate their analysis into policy recommendations
Timetable
On the Public Administration front page of the E-guide you will find links to the website and timetables, uSis and Blackboard.
Mode of instruction
Seven seminars and general debate.
Course Load
5 EC = 140 hours
- contact hours: 21
- self-study hours: 119
Attendance is mandatory.
Assessment method
Midterm paper 40%
Final paper 60%
The midterm exam and final paper need to be 5.5 or higher each in order to complete this course.
Re-sit takes the same form.
You can find more information about assessments and the timetable exams on the website.
Details for submitting papers (deadlines) are posted on Blackboard.
On the Public Administration front page of the E-guide you will find links to the website, uSis and Blackboard.
Resit
Students will be permitted to resit an examination if they have a mark lower than 5.5 or with permission of the Board of Examiners.
Resit written exam
Students that want to take part in a resit for a written exam, are required to register via uSis. Use the activity number that can be found on the ‘timetable exams’.
Blackboard
Available one week before the start of the course
Contains the syllabus of the course and links to recommended articles and recommended videos
Reading list
See syllabus. Only open access articles and reports or articles to be accessed with Leiden University Library membership
Registration
Use both uSis and Blackboard to register for every course.
Register for every course and workgroup via uSis. Some courses and workgroups have a limited number of participants, so register on time (before the course starts). In uSis you can access your personal schedule and view your results. Registration in uSis is possible from four weeks before the start of the course.
Also register for every course in Blackboard. Important information about the course is posted here.
Contact
e.bakker@fgga.leidenuniv.nl
During breaks and after class or by individual appointments.