Modern Urban Terrorism

This course will focus on contemporary urban terrorism, as it is most relevant to New York City and other Western urban centers. While the course will touch upon a variety of different types of terrorism like white supremacist terrorism among others, the primary focus will be on violent Islamist terrorism (al-Qaeda/ISIS). The first part of this course will be more theoretical starting with a historical perspective, methodology on how to approach to problem, the importance of ideology and the evolution of this wave of terrorism, including the role of the Internet. In the second half of the course, several case studies relevant to New York City and other important Western cities will be analyzed. Finally, the course will end with a discussion of disengagement from terrorism and group project which allows study of a variety of different terrorist campaigns against urban environments.