PSI 3204 - Insurgency, Civil War & Political Violence

Credits: 4
The course introduces students to the study of asymmetric and irregular warfare. We will identify and evaluate the relevant analytical frameworks, theories, and cases that help explain how non-state armed organizations organize themselves, generate material resources, attract recruits, use violence and negotiate with states. In so doing, we will also examine intra-group competition and
the role of political leaders and external actors in provoking or mediating the outbreak of violence in internal wars. At the end of the course, students are expected to have sharpened their analytical skills on the dialectics between the various causes, dynamics and consequences of insurgencies and related forms of political violence. In addition, they would have had deep understanding of the policy challenges that political violence poses. Such knowledge will be demonstrated through informed class participation, presentations and production of high quality research papers.
McDaniel Plan: International Non-western; Social, Cultural, and Historical Understanding