Drivers of Violent Extremism: The Local and the Global in the Middle East

This course provides postgraduate students with the tools to understand and analyse some of the key drivers of violent extremism in the world today. Focused on the Middle East, the course examines the historical legacies that have shaped state and non-state violence in the region and provides important context to the emergence of terrorism as a political tactic against the backdrop of globalisation. Running throughout the course are basic questions such as: why does violent extremism develop; how does it function; what impact does it have; and what can be done about it? Specific topics to be covered include: defining violent extremism; the historical roots of violence and legacies of Empires; politics and violence in the struggle for Palestine; religious fundamentalism and international politics; September 11 and “The War on Terror”; global repercussions of the Iraq invasion; the rise and fall of Isis; gender and political violence; non-state actors and militia; the new fundamentalisms: violence and terror today.