Semester:
Offered:
William P. Whitham (Committee on the Social Studies)
First-Year Seminar 72O 4 credits (fall term) Enrollment: Limited to 12
You were likely born after September 11th, 2001, the day of one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in world history. Since then, publics have often perceived terrorists as shadowy jihadis striking across state borders, armed with high-tech weapons and encrypted messaging apps. Yet political violence, practiced by the Zealots in the Holy Land two millennia ago as well as by white nationalists in contemporary America, is neither new nor foreign. What is political violence or “terrorism”? Why do people choose to use violence in pursuit of political change—and when, if ever, is that choice rational or justifiable? How do practitioners of political violence maintain organizations, forge transnational networks, exploit media attention, and (in some cases) come to power? And how can states prevent political violence, rather than foster it or even participate in it? In this seminar, we’ll explore the ethics, psychology, and sociology of political violence over the past 150 years. We’ll examine fin-de-siècle anarchists, communist regimes across Eurasia, German Nazism and Italian fascism, anti-colonial struggles in Algeria and Palestine, and the rise of jihadi networks and far-right “lone wolves.” Students will read original historical documents, watch The Battle of Algiers, and familiarize themselves with social-scientific analysis. They’ll debate contentious topics, cultivate empathy, and, in a final project, analyze a terrorist network, group, or regime of their choosing. Above all, they’ll learn about the nature of power.