ATS1701 Terrorism and political violence: An introduction

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. 1

   A. an introductory understanding of the cultural, economic, social and religious circumstances that lie behind the spread of politically motivated violence; b. how terrorism is a unique form of political violence, yet one that shares some features, objectives and tactics of guerrilla warfare, organized crime and political assassination.

2. 2

   An introductory understanding of how politically motivated violence challenges established domestic and international political norms; especially in areas of citizenship, state surveillance and international cooperation between states;

3. 3

   An introductory understanding of violent extremist networks and extremist groups and how these networks and groups impact upon national and international security;

4. 4

   An ability to contribute in a constructive way to public debates in areas such as social alienation and its relationship to violence; the ethics of using violence to resolve conflicts; the limits of legal and acceptable political action.

5. 5

   A solid grounding in a range of case-based examples of terrorist and other forms of political violence as perpetrated by various ideological and theological actors from different parts of the world, including Australia.