Poslední úprava: BURESO (03.09.2019)
NB:
Due to high demand, in the winter term, this course is taught twice - one session by prof. Oldřich Bureš and another course session by dr. Aliaksei Kazharski. Students cannot attend these sessions interchangeably, they must pick and register for one course session only.
In the spring term, this course is taught only by dr. Aliaksei Kazharski.
For both prof. Bures's and dr. Kazharski's course sessions, please check Moodle for current syllabus, readings etc.
Course description for the winter term, course session by prof. Oldřich Bureš:
The aim of this one-semester course is to familiarize students with the measures the European Union (EU), the United States (US), the Czech Republic, and other countries and international organizations have taken to combat terrorism after the September 11, 2001 (9/11) attacks on the US. After an overview of the history and the evolving nature of the terrorist threat and possible responses to it, the following topics will be discussed: the origins of EU’s counterterrorism policy and the key pre-9/11 developments in this area; the EU’s Plan of Action that was adopted immediately after 9/11 and has functioned as a road map for all subsequent developments and changes of EU counterterrorism policy; the major legal measures and key institutional innovations that have been adopted in the area of Justice and Home Affairs according to this Plan of Action. We will then explore the US counterterrorism policy and discuss its differences and similarities with the EU counterterrorism measures and approaches. A guest lecturer from the Czech Ministry of Interior will take us through a similar exercise for the Czech counterterrorism policy. In the last session, we will look beyond Europe and US to explore counterterrorism policies of other major states and organizations.
Course description for the course taught by dr. Aliaksei Kazharski in both winter and spring term:
The course covers a broad array of topics that are typically discussed within the discipline of terrorism studies. These include the problem of defining terrorism, the debate on the concept of “new terrorism”, the discussion of the so-called “root causes” of terrorism, an overview of existing approaches to fighting terrorism as well as a critical scrutiny of the discourses and practices of counterterrorism. The course curriculum presupposes that students will work independently with the required literature and will rely on it to contribute to regular class discussions and to complete their written assignments.
SESSION 1. Introductory session. Rules and requirements. Warm up discussion. (October 9)
SESSION 2-3. The (inter)disciplinary field of terrorism studies. Challenges of definition (October 23)
SESSION 4-5. Evolution of terrorism. The “new terrorism” thesis. (November 6)
SESSION 6-7. The “root causes” debate in terrorism studies (November 13)
SESSION 8-9. Terrorist groups: organizational structure and environment (November 27)
SESSION 10-11. Counterterrorism: approaches, challenges, dilemmas. Terrorism and democracy (November 27)
SESSION 12-13. Critical terrorism studies: a scrutiny of counterterrorism practices? (December 4)
