Undergraduate - UnitATS1701 - Terrorism and political violence: An introduction

After successfully completing this subject, students should be able to demonstrate the following:

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