Links
to the Past: Course Sites for Dr. Christopher Lovett
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Links
to the Past: Course Sites for Dr. Christopher Lovett
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updated as of 9 Feb 03
Back to Iraq: The Search for Saddam's Weapons of Mass Destruction Bush's New National Security Strategy of the United States Contemporary Terrorist Organizations Eisenhower
Library Research Topics Map of Islamic Terrorist Cells in the U.S.A.
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1. One of the major difficulties studying terrorism remains the question of definition. What does terrorism mean and how has the concept of terrorism changed throughout history? What principal ingredients are common to all forms of contemporary terrorism? Explain. 2. Terrorists often hope to cause political change through a process of violent intimidation of the civilian population. Sometimes due to the law of unintended consequences this does not happen and governments respond violently to terrorist intimidation. Explain what had happened to the Zealots, the Narodnaya Volya (the People's Will), and the Armenians. Was terrorism worth the price ultimately paid? 3. Most scholars agree that terrorism has evolved over time and so have the possibilities of destructions available to terrorists. What have analysts surmised concerning the likelihood of the use of weapons of mass destruction? How have chemical, biological, and radiological weapons changed the dynamics of modern terrorism? Explain. 4. Terrorists have left their mark on history. Normally their targets were political enemies, who were removed from the political stage via the dagger, the pistol, or the bomb. While it is normally acknowledged that developing a distinct personality type common to terrorists is difficult, attempt to give a historical and psychological description of those individuals attracted to terrorism. How has the appeal of terrorism changed throughout history? 5. For well over a hundred years anarchism and the militant left attracted the poor and the economically deprived to terrorism. This traditional model appears to have died with the end of the Cold War. Or has it? Does the recent wave of terrorism fall within this paradigm? Has religious fanaticism replaced the previous model of terrorism, which was common in Europe, North, and South America as late as the 1980s? Explain. 6. Americans were shocked by the destruction of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. Americans not familiar with the history of right wing extremism thought that this was an anomaly; however, was that true? What factors best explain the rise of right wing extremism in the United States in the 1990s? Why has it declined? 7. It is generally assumed that state sponsored terrorism is nothing more than way by proxy. Why do traditional nation-states support terrorism? What are their objectives? How do those states managed to support their program? How have Libya, Iran, and Iraq, as well as the former Soviet Union, used state-sponsored terrorism to achieve their foreign policy objectives? 8. What is the future of terrorism? How have weapons of mass destruction altered our perceptions? What threats do such weapons in the hands of terrorists pose to humanity? Are they likely to use them? If they are, would this set them apart from their predecessors? Evaluate the specific perils that biological, chemical, and radiological weapons pose to the general public and the likelihood of their use in the foreseeable future. 9. Laurie Mylroie in her book The War Against America contends that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the first World Trade Center attack in 1993. Some believe that the American failure not to respond made it possible for the second World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001. What do you think? Evaluate her arguments and determine the validity of her case. Explain. 10. How does Hollywood portray terrorism? What liberties, if any, do writers and directors take? How do they alter contemporary events to bring a visual portrayal of the horrors of terrorism to the silver screen? Compare and contrast the plots of current fiction and film and analyze the storylines used in each in an effort to determine the effectiveness of their craft in understanding terrorism? What books and films are the most effective? Explain. 11. Ireland has a long and varried record of terrorism. What were the common elements that explain the continuation of terrorism in Ireland since 1798? Why has Irish terrorism have become so sectarian since the dawn of the twentieth century? Was that always true? How have the various resistance/terrorist groups in Ireland evolved from the United Irishmen to the IRA? Explain. 12. Women have played key roles in traditional terrorist organizations in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. What specifically did they do? What part did they play in the People's Will, the FLN, the Baader-Meinhof gang as well as other terrorist movements? How would you evaluate their level of commitment to the movement? What level of threat did women pose in terrorist movements? What part, if any, do women play in Islamic terrorist movements? Explain. |
DIRECTIONS: Do one of the following essay
questions. You may use outside sources, your texts, as well as materials presented in
class; however, your response should be properly annotated with appropriate citations.
Likewise, your answer should be five double- spaced pages. All papers are due by August 1,
2002. You can start at any time.