Postgraduate - UnitAPG5667 - Terrorism, fringe politics and extremist violence

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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12 points, SCA Band 1, 0.250 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Postgraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	Politics and International Relations
Offered	Caulfield First semester 2015 (Evening)
Coordinator(s)	Associate Professor Peter Lentini

Synopsis

Concentrating on contemporary religious extremists, vigilante and militia movements, and hate groups, this unit examines the political thought, identity politics, political, social and economic conditions that give rise to terrorism and other forms of political violence. The subject addresses the following questions: How are terrorism and extremism defined? What conditions lead to terrorism and what factors have been most successful preventing it? How has globalisation contributed to terrorism and counter-terrorism? How do terrorism and counter-terrorism affect democracy and civil liberties?

Outcomes

Upon completing this subject students will be able to:

Understand, identify and assess critically different forms of contemporary terrorist actions, extremist political movements and thought
Develop a comparative understanding of the role of states, elites, transnational corporations and marginalised communities in relation to cultural politics and the limits and potential of political expression
Appreciate the importance and limitations of identity politics in the post-Cold War era
Develop an understanding of the complex relationship between mainstream and fringe political thought, practice and tendencies and terrorism and political violence
Develop skills to read various forms of text critically (audio-visual materials, scholarly literature, internet sources) and incorporate them in their assessed work
Continue the development of critical skills and an ability to communicate effectively. Specifically to: develop a topic for investigation; familiarise themselves with a wide range of sources; recognise and be able to present a logically ordered argument
Demonstrate an advanced utilization and critique of primary and secondary resources in the research essay.
8. Demonstrate an advanced and critical understanding of relevant conceptual frameworks pertaining to terrorism, fringe political movements and political violence.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 100%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 288 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Chief examiner(s)

Associate Professor Peter Lentini

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

International relations

Prohibitions

ATS4843 or APG4667