Sylabus
NATIONAL SECURITY AND ASYMMETRIC THREATS Emil Souleimanov arslanlik@yahoo.com, www.emilsouleimanov.eu Annotation This one-semester course seeks to explain the phenomenon of asymmetric threats in a broader context of globalized international politics. The course is broken down into three main parts. In Part 1, we will be exploring the essence of terrorism focusing on the milestones of its history, its psychology and interconnectedness with politics, as well; students will learn how to differentiate between different categories of terrorism, they will gain necessary skills about the ways it can be confronted. Part II will put emphasize on the phenomenon of ethno-political conflicts. We will go into basic theoretical aspects (ethnicity, nation, nationalism) pertinent to the issue of ethno-political conflicts with accent being put onto the ways conflicts escalate, as well as the issue of conflict management. Part III will focus on the phenomenon of organized crime in international context. The course is intended to provide the students for solid theoretical background which they will apply on the example of case studies from all over the world. IMPORTANT PRE-REQUIREMENTS Willingness and ability to employ substantial research and analytical skills, as well as argumentation skills are indispensable features for those willing to succeed in the course. In addition to learning basic facts on the topic of the course, this rather seminar-style course is intended to contribute to developing the above mentioned methodological skills among the students. FORMAL REQUIREMENTS A. Presentations Students are required to have at least two presentations in class. Presentations will be evaluated according to the following criteria: ? Format (introduction/conclusion, methodology, interconnectedness of individual parts of the presentation, compliance with time requirements etc., see below); ? Contents (quality of research and prepared questions); ? Argumentation skills; For each of the above three criteria, a maximum of 10 points can be earned. There are three forms for the evaluation of particular criteria a), b) & c): 10 ? excellent; 5 ? good; 0 ? failed. Hence a maximum of 30 points can be earned for each presentation as a whole. B. Final Essay Students are required to write 1 final essay on one of the three topics chosen randomly from the list of the course?s presentation topics (see below). The chosen topics are to be announced immediately in class on the essay-writing day, e.g. the 13th hour. Essays will be evaluated according to the following criteria: ? Format (introduction/conclusion, compliance of the size ); ? Contents. For the Format criterion, a maximum of 20 points can be earned. For the Contents criterion, a maximum of 30 points can be earned. Hence a maximum of 50 points can be earned for the final essay. C. ?Critical Assessment? Students are encouraged to critically evaluate the contents of their colleagues? presentations; in this case, they are expected to be familiar with particular topics to be evaluated by them. ?Critical assessments? will be evaluated according to the following criteria: ? Format (evaluation of the structure of presentations - see below); ? Contents. For the Format criterion, a maximum of 10 points can be earned; For the Contents criterion, a maximum of 20 points can be earned; Hence a maximum of 30 points can be attained for each ?critical assessment?. D. ?Bonus? Those students taking active part in seminars and/or contributing to class discussions by valuable comments will be given a special ?bonus? making up 10, 20 or 30 points. ?Bonuses? are usually given on the 12th hour at the latest. Important Information on Presentations and ?Critical Assessments?:
1. Presentations are expected to have an approximate duration of 15-20min. Presentations significantly above (more than 25min) or below (less than 10min) the time limit can be accepted only in exceptional cases.
2. Only those presentations given in class can be accepted. No written texts can substitute for missed presentations. The same rule applies to ?critical assessments?.
3. Topics of already taken presentations cannot be changed unless previously approved (7 days in advance) by the lecturer. The same rule applies to ?critical assessments?.
4. Dates of giving taken presentations cannot be changed. The same rule applies to ?critical assessments?.
5. A student who has already taken a presentation topic but cannot give it in class due to any reasons is encouraged to agree with a colleague of him/her to timely replace him/her on the day of presentation. The same rule applies to ?critical assessments?.
6. Only one failure to give a taken presentation can be accepted unless being timely replaced (see
5). Failure to give a taken presentation more than once automatically leads to one?s disqualification in the course unless being timely replaced (see
5). The same rule applies to ?critical assessments? if missed more than twice.
7. Students are encouraged to inform the lecturer about their failure to give presentations well in advance, though doing so will not exempt them from the above rules.
8. Presentation topics are to be taken within the deadline which expires two weeks (including the 14th day) after the Introductory Lecture.
9. Upon the 2nd week after the Introductory Lecture, students may take an unlimited number of presentations in addition to the two they are required to take.
10. An unlimited number of ?critical assessments? can be taken by a student.
11. In the case of all presentation topics being taken before the deadline (see above), students may apply for taking ?critical assessments?. One ?critical assessment? accounts for one presentation. However, ?critical assessments? may be taken only in the case of all presentations being taken.
12. ?Critical assessments? can be taken upon the deadline throughout the whole period of the course provided there are no presentation topics available, e.g. there are no deadlines for taking ?critical assessments?.
13. Those students interested in taking ?critical assessments? are expected to get in touch with the lecturer at least 3 days before the presentation day of the topic to be assessed.
14. There is no time limit set for ?critical assessments?.
15. In the event of a presentation not taking place, a student whose ?critical assessment? is related to the missed presentation?s topic may either give a presentation of his/her research?s findings or omit it. Omitting the lastly mentioned option in this particular context does not account for failure.
16. All the presentations and ?critical assessments? are to be individual.
17. Those students having gathered enough points to succeed in the course without having to necessarily write the final essay may omit the final essay. In this case, they are expected to inform the lecturer about their decision to do so on the essay-writing day at the latest. They are entitled to obtain their final marks already on the essay-writing day.
18. Students are strongly encouraged to start carrying out research on their respective topics of presentations and/or ?critical assessments? well in advance.
19. Note that a successful presentation and/or ?critical assessment? is based upon more than a single source.
20. Note that a successful ?critical assessment? is a truly critical assessment. Final Evaluation 120 and above ? 1 (excellent). 95-115 ? 2 (very good). 70-90 points ? 3 (good). Less than 65 points ? failed Information on the Structure of Presentations and ?Critical Assessments? All presentations are expected to have the following structure: ? Introduction (explain the importance of the chosen topic); ? Methodology (explain how you proceeded in carrying out research on your topic; mention and/or characterize particular sources used by you; familiarize the audience with the structure of your presentation); ? Hypotheses (familiarize the audience with particular issues to be addressed); ? Core of the presentation (try to be as concise and clear as possible; explicate events rather than bring a pure chronological order of them); ? Conclusion (draw up a conclusion emphasizing most important points of your presentation) ; ? Presentation-givers are expected to prepare 3 topic-related questions for class. All ?critical assessments? are expected to address the above structure, as well. COURSE CONTENTS TITLE OF LECTURE/SEMINAR CONTENTS FORM OF CLASSWORK Introductory Lecture ? Getting familiar with particular aspects of the course and its formal requirements L Security in the Globalized World ? Understanding security ? Genesis of the term ?security? ? Globalization and Nation-State L Terrorism I ? History of terrorism ? Categories of terrorism ? Psychology of terrorist behaviour (P) L/S Terrorism II ? Definitions of terrorism ? Terrorism and/or National Liberation? (P) ? Terrorism and ?big politics? (P) ? Suicide terrorism: Rational or Irrational? (P) L/S Terrorism III ? Al Qaeda (P) ? Rote Armee Fraktion (P) ? IRA or ETA (P) ? UÇK or Chechen groups čečenské skupiny (P) ? Terrorism and WMD (P) S Terrorism IV ? Role of Intelligence Services (IS) in the fight against terrorism ? Counter-terrorist measures and instruments of the USA after
9.11.2001 (P) ? Counter-terrorist measures and instruments of the EU (P) ? Counter-terrorist measures and instruments of the Czech Republic (P) L/S Ethno-Political Conflicts I ? Getting familiar with basic terminology (ethnicity, nationa, nationalism, ethno-centrism etc.) L Ethno-Political Conflicts II ? Conflict escalation and security dilemma ? Role of media in ethno-political conflicts (P) ? Causes of ethno-political conflicts (P) ? Ethno-political conflicts and ethno-histori