The nature of the threat facing the UK is changing and how Global Britain establishes itself within the ever evolving conflict ecosystem is changing with it. The Integrated Review (2021) and Defence in a Competitive Age (2021) outline the UK Government’s strategy for dealing with the changing nature of warfare for Global Britain. Why social movements decide to use terrorism as a strategy continues to perplex Governments around the world. This module will introduce you to the root causes of terrorism.
Terrorism is difficult to define and research so the module will focus on providing you with the necessary concepts and definitions to understand that complexity. Inherent in this complexity is the multidisciplinary nature of the research and so different perspectives will be discussed. As terrorism is ultimately a strategy employed by a social movement the focus of this module will be social movements that may adopt terrorism.
This module will also introduce you to the concept of radicalisation and its appearance after the 9/11 attacks. There is no universal agreement on the concept and definition of radicalisation and its use is highly politicised. British Government policy has focused on radicalisation (e.g. ,PREVENT) and multiple agencies are now tasked with identifying and preventing radicalisation as part of their statutory duties. This module will cover existing theories of radicalisation and critically evaluate their utility for practitioners in this context.
Terrorists are commonly labelled as mentally ill, just plain evil, or often both. The reality is somewhat different with little evidence of either. This module will introduce you to how terrorist groups operate. There are numerous different types of terrorist organizations that adopt different internal structures so the module will focus on providing you with the necessary theoretical background to understand the implications of these different modus operandi.
The lectures will cover a broad range of topics, such as ideology, propaganda, recruitment, tactics, techniques, and procedures. The similarities and differences between groups that operate at the national, international, and transnational level will be critically evaluated. Rising nationalism has led to an increase in the threat from peer and near-peer adversaries and tensions reminiscent of the Cold War. These threats are often manifest in the ‘grey zone’ between peace and conflict where it is difficult to counter them within the existing ‘rules-based international system’. Understanding the psychology of hybrid threats will potentially afford novel methods of identifying and countering such hybrid threats. This module will seek to apply psychological theory to real world experience of hybrid threat actors and their activities in the ‘grey zone’.
The core theoretical components and applications of those theories will be delivered through lectures. The module will be assessed through a single piece of written coursework and an essay-based exam.