CPOL 553 Violent Non-State Actors
Though violent non-state actors (VNSAs) have only recently become the subject of sustained scholarly interest, they are increasingly important international actors. This course is designed to provide students with a theoretical, contextual, and practical understanding of this phenomenon. Though the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, dramatically asserted VNSAs as actors capable of challenging the world's most powerful states on a strategic level, the U.S.'s initial understanding of the threat it confronted - and hence, its reaction - had important limitations. This course examines the U.S.'s confrontation with al-Qaeda, but it will neither exclusively nor primarily focus on al-Qaeda and other jihadist organizations. By exploring a range of VNSAs, the course identifies commonalities and differences among them in terms of ideologies, recruitment processes, organizational structure, strategies, tactics, strengths, vulnerabilities, and what kind of toolkit can be used in confronting VNSAs in the future.