Things to worry about now

The full paper is due December 17. If you want me to read a draft or outline please get that to me by the 15th. To meet with me to talk through the paper, please email me and we can set up a time.
I'm happy to meet with students individually throughout the semester. My office is in Rowley G124. Two options:
- Come during my regular office hours. Any day that we have class, between 10 and 11 and between 1:50 and 2:45. You do not need an appointment.
- Or, for other times, make an appointment. See cal.chadrector.net for times.
For those of you who are not right about to graduate - you should do a semester-long program at some point. Please meet with me (or someone from the study abroad office) if you would like to start thinking about your options.

Summary

Professor Chad Rector

Mondays and Wednesdays 11:00 am - 12:15 pm
Rowley Hall, Room G207

Syllabus

An in-depth examination of how and why rebels, insurrectionists, and terrorists organize and use violence in pursuit of political goals, and how governments and other groups respond with repression, negotiation, or reforms, with applications to contemporary politics throughout the world.

This course meets Marymount's "Social Sciences" and "Depth in the Sciences" requirements.

I strongly advise students to meet with me, individually, regularly throughout the semester. I have regular in-person meeting times set aside for students on every Monday and Wednesday that we have class. I also have meeting times by videoconference available, scheduled via my calendar at cal.chadrector.net. If none of those times work for you, please feel free to email me to suggest a different time. I am also available after class most days for as long as anyone wants to talk.

Course Assignments and Grades

Course grades will be based on:

One article summary and presentation. 20%. Early in the semester, each student will be assigned to provide a short written summary of a published social science article, edit a Wikipedia entry to include a reference to that article, and present a summary of the article to the class. The written summaries are due by September 26, the Wikipedia edits by October 6, and the presentations will be spread throughout the semester.
One group presentation. 15%. Groups of 4-5 students will present on assigned topics that link course content to a current or recent campaign of violent political dissent outside of the United States. Options to focus on include the Shining Path, Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIL, the Tamil Tigers, the Tigray PLF, the Zapatistas, Boko Haram, the Karen NLA, al Qaeda, the Haqqani network, the Lord's Resistance Army, Jamaat-e-Islami, or another similar group or movement. (Your group should not do the Irish Republican Army or the Red Army Faction, or most currently operating groups within the United States, since we will cover those in class.) Additional details will be posted in late September.
Final exam. 15%. A series of short answer questions and two essays, in-person on the day of the final exam.
Term paper. 50%. A series of assignments leading up to a 10-15 page analytic paper, written in several steps:
- Annotated bibliography (10%).
- Literature review (20%).
- Presentation (5%).
- Complete draft (15%).

Extra credit:

Class participation. Students may earn up to 5% for constructive contributions to class discussions. There is no specific grade for "attendance," as this is a seminar-style course in which I expect regular class participation (although for university administrative purposes I will occasionally record attendance anyway). Students earn participation grades for sharing ideas with the class, not simply for showing up. Since there is no such thing as an "excused" absence there is no reason to give me an excuse or note if you are absent.
Current events project. Up to 5% for a high-quality interpretive project and presentation, following an assigned format.
DC event. 5% for a first event and 3% for a second. Attend an informative, professional lecture, seminar, or hearing in the DC area on the subject of public affairs and write a summary of your experience and give a brief summary presentation to the class. These must be submitted before the last meeting of the semester.

Assignments will be marked down for being late. Students will not be penalized for missing a class assignment for a recognized religious holiday.

I may, at my discretion, check any written assignments for plagiarism at any time during or after the semester, using electronic or other means. Plagiarism includes presenting text or presentation materials as your own that were written by another person or by an LLM (such as GPT). Students found violating the Marymount principles of Academic Integrity will fail the course and be formally charged through the University’s Academic Integrity process. I have failed students in prior semesters for cheating. By enrolling in the course you acknowledge that you have reviewed the University’s standards of academic integrity.

Readings

Two books are required for the course:

Perliger, Arie. American zealots: Inside right-wing domestic terrorism. Columbia University Press, 2020.
Walter, Barbara F. How civil wars start: And how to stop them. Crown Publishing Group (NY), 2022.

Course Schedule

The coursework during the semester is divided into several segments. Assigned readings are linked under the class time you should have them read by. Starting in mid-semester, many class sessions will also have time devoted to working on term papers.

Introduction

Monday, August 28 - Background on Israelis and Palestinians (slides)

Wednesday, August 30 - Basic concepts in governance, negotiation, and political violence (and a discussion of this paper)

Part 1: Civil Wars and Insurrections

Wednesday, September 6 - Why do people rebel?
Reading: Young, Joseph K. "Repression, dissent, and the onset of civil war." Political Research Quarterly 66.3 (2013): 516-532.

Monday, September 11 - Ethnic leaders (slides)
Reading: Vogt, Manuel, Kristian Skrede Gleditsch, and Lars-Erik Cederman. "From claims to violence: signaling, outbidding, and escalation in ethnic conflict." Journal of conflict resolution 65.7-8 (2021): 1278-1307.

Wednesday, September 13 - Violence and the creation of governments (slides)
Reading: Stewart, Megan A. "Civil war as state-making: Strategic governance in civil war." International Organization 72.1 (2018): 205-226.

Monday, September 18 - Sons of the soil movements (slides)
Reading: Walter, Introduction and Chapter 1

Wednesday, September 20 - More sons of the soil movements
Reading: Walter, Chapters 2, 3, 4

Monday, September 25 - Entrepreneurs
Reading: Walter, Introduction and Chapters 5, 6

Wednesday, September 27 - Political institutions and conflict diffusion (slides)
Reading: Walter, Chapters 7, 8

Part 2: Terrorism

Monday, October 2 - Background and strategy
Reading: Pape, Robert A. "The strategic logic of suicide terrorism." American political science review 97.3 (2003): 343-361.

Wednesday, October 4 - Social conditions (slides)
Reading: Piazza, James A. "A supply-side view of suicide terrorism: A cross-national study." The Journal of Politics 70.1 (2008): 28-39.

Monday, October 9 - Terrorist organizations
Reading: Abrahms, Max, and Philip BK Potter. "Explaining terrorism: Leadership deficits and militant group tactics." International Organization 69.2 (2015): 311-342.

Wednesday, October 11 - Terrorist leaders
Reading: Jordan, Jenna. "Attacking the leader, missing the mark: Why terrorist groups survive decapitation strikes." International Security 38.4 (2014): 7-38.

Monday, October 16 - The Irish Republican Army, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Red Army Faction (slides)
Presentation: Lili
Reading: Perliger, Chapter 1

Wednesday, October 18 - Patterns of terrorist campaigns in democracies
Presentation: Sydney
Reading: Perliger, Chapters 2, 3, 4

Monday, October 23 - The strategic use of political identity in violent campaigns
Presentations: Andrea, Dania, Elene, Mya
Reading: Perliger, Chapters 4, 5, 6

Wednesday, October 25 - Terrorism in the United States
Presentations: Andy, Anna, Olivia, Zack
Reading: Perliger, Chapters 7, 8

Monday, October 30 - Group presentation workshop
Presentations: Maha, Mustapha, Sabah

Wednesday, November 1 - Group presentation workshop, also Proud Boys and ISIL (slides)
Presentation: Lauren

Monday, November 6 - Colombia and group presentation workshop (slides)
Presentation: Richard

Wednesday, November 8 - Group presentations
Groups: Tamil Tigers, Hamas, IRA, Hezbullah, al Qaeda

Part 3: Durable settlements

Monday, November 13 - Northern Ireland, Guatemala, and Yemen Partition and Israel/Palestine (slides)
Presentation: Sofia, Jordan

Wednesday, November 15 - Power sharing agreements and the resumption of violence
Presentation: Diego, Ethan, Jack
Reading: Ottmann, Martin. "Peace for our time? Examining the effect of power-sharing on postwar rebellions." Journal of Peace Research 57.5 (2020): 617-631.

Monday, November 20 - Executives
Presentations: Mary, Christopher
Reading: Wucherpfennig, Julian. "Executive Power Sharing in the Face of Civil War." International Studies Quarterly 65.4 (2021): 1027-1039.

Part 4: Projects

Monday, November 27 - Project workshops and review (slides)

Wednesday, November 29 - Project workshops and review
Presentations: Elene, Mya, Olivia

Monday, December 4 - Project workshops and review
Presentations: Andrea, Dania, Diego, Ethan, Lili, Maha, Sydney, Zach

Wednesday, December 6 - Project workshops and review
Presentations: Annabella, Andy, Christopher, Jack, Jordan, Lauren, Mary, Mustapha, Richard, Sabah

Monday, December 11, 11:00 AM - Final exam