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This module aims to provide you with an overview of violent extremism and terrorism, including their history, groups and tactics, prominent explanations for why violent extremism and terrorism occur and why individuals get involved in terrorist activity, and contemporary manifestations of these phenomena.

While the course material draws from an array of disciplines traditionally concerned with the topic - such as political science, international relations, sociology and psychology - the main purpose of the module is to introduce you to a more distinctive security and crime science perspective on the subject. Therefore, throughout the module, you are encouraged to:ÌýÌý

• think about what it means to study violent extremism and terrorism as scientific problems, specifically;

• adopt a critical yet open mindset (e.g. don't take what you read or hear at face-value, but be willing to learn from different points of views and disciplines);Ìý

• reflect on the conceptual and methodological issues involved in gathering reliable knowledge about violent extremism, terrorism and counter-terrorism;Ìý

• think about what this particular approach to the study of terrorism implies for the design (and evaluation) of preventive and disruptive social and scientific technologies to combat terrorism.

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As an indication, some of the lectures delivered in this module address the following questions:

• • What does it mean to study violent extremism and terrorism as scientific problems?
  • How do we get around the problem of lack of consensual definitions?
  • Why does knowing past forms of terrorism matter?
  • Where to find data on terrorism and violent extremism for research?
  • How have researchers tried to explain why groups and individuals engage in violent extremism and terrorism and what are the implications of these accounts for counter-terrorism?
  • What is radicalisation and how can we explain it?
  • What are the main terrorist groups active today and what tactics do they use?
  • Why do individuals leave terrorist groups and disengage from terrorism?
  • What do we know about Islamist and far-right-inspired terrorism, as well as terrorism conducted by lone actors (these topics may vary year-on-year to adapt to the evolving nature of the problem)