4 ECTS credits
100 h study time
Offer 1 with catalog number 8023171INR for all students in the 2nd semester at a (I) Postgraduate - specialised level.
The Treaty on European Union stipulates that one of the key objectives of the European Union (EU) is to provide citizens with a high level of safety within an area of freedom, security and justice. Yet, when it comes to the measures taken to combat terrorism following the September 11, 2001 (9/11) attacks in the United States (US), has the EU lived up to this promise thus far? On paper, the post-9/11 EU counterterrorism policy looks impressive. Already in November 2001, the European Council adopted an Action Plan on Combating Terrorism and an EU Counterterrorism Strategy was agreed in December 2005, following the terrorist attacks in Madrid and London. In December 2003, the European Council also adopted a European Security Strategy, where terrorism heads the list of threats facing the Member States (MSs) and which proclaims that concerted European action against terrorism is “indispensable.” Despite the relatively limited competences for fighting terrorism at the supranational EU level, a March 2007 Commission memorandum listed 51 adopted and 33 proposed pieces of legislation as well as 22 Communications and 21 reports under the heading of the fight against terrorism. Thus, although “counterterrorism” is not yet a clearly defined area in its broadest and fullest sense, it already spans across a number of other policy areas across all of the EU’s former three pillars. Moreover, many senior EU officials have publicly expressed their conviction that the EU counterterrorism measures have made a difference in the fight against terrorism. According to Max-Peter Ratzel, the former Director of Europol: ‘The abortive London attacks of August 2006 … showed that the concerted EU actions and counterterrorist policies proved to be effective when put to the test. This is some most recent success of EU counterterrorism efforts but a number of other terrorist cells have been dismantled throughout the EU and terrorist plans foiled as a direct result of the concerted EU actions and counterterrorism policies.’ The first EU Counterterrorism Coordinator Gijs de Vries even argued that the fight against terrorism is changing “the role and functioning of the European Union” insofar as it adopts an increasingly operational role. Despite the aforementioned unprecedented policy relevance and almost a decade-long history, the European Union’s (EU) counterterrorism policy has only relatively recently received due attention in the academic community. This stands out in stark contrast to a sizeable body of literature devoted to national counterterrorism policies of various the EU Member States. The few available volumes the topic of EU-level counterterrorism policy include a handful of post-9/11 volumes focused on specific aspects of EU’s counterterrorism efforts only (e.g. Cyrile Fijnaut, Jan Wouters and Frederick Naert (eds.) Legal Instruments in the Fight Against International Terrorism: a Transatlantic Dialogue Leiden: Nijhoff, 2004). More recently, two edited volumes were devoted to the analysis of several aspects of the EU counterterrorism policy: Dieter Mahncke and Jörg Monar (eds.) International Terrorism: A European Response to a Global Threat? (Brussels: PIE Peter Lang, 2006) and David Spence (ed.) The European Union and Terrorism (London: John Harper Publishing, 2007). In January 2008, the Journal of Common Market Studies devoted a special issue to selected EU counterterrorism issues, primarily from the perspective of European Studies.
The course represents the first attempt to evaluate the first 15 years of the EU counterterrorism policy from an interdisciplinary perspective. This module connects to broader policy developments in the European Union’s (EU) Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) - an umbrella term for intelligence, police and judicial cooperation, border management, asylum and migration, and counter-terrorism. This module will provide students with crucial new insights into several important aspects of the EU’s first 15 years of counter-terrorism policy. The rapid development of the AFSJ in recent years has led to an expansion of the scholarly literature on this topic (see Argomaniz, 2011; Balzacq and Carrera, 2005, 2006; Bures, 2006, 2011; Bossong, 2008; Boswell, 2003, 2007; Friedrichs, 2005; Guild, 2002; Geddes, 2000; Guiraudon, 2000; Kaunert, 2007, 2009, 2010; Mitsilegas, Monar and Rees, 2003; Occhipinti, 2003). However, with its focus on policy outputs and the role of the main EU institutions, this literature has tended to largely overlook an analysis of specific policy developments in EU counter-terrorism, with the recent exception of aforementioned literature.
Indicative syllabus and the six modules:
Radicalisation and causes for terrorism
Religious based terrorism and Al-Qaeda
Terrorism & Democracy Counter-terrorism in the EU’s Area of Freedom, Security and Justice
European Union multilateral terrorism cooperation with the US and the world
The War on Terror: US Experience and EU-US transatlantic cooperation on counter-terrorism. What Role for NATO?
The Future of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism
Case studies of terrorist groups, such as:
Northern Ireland
Red-brigades, Italy
Baader Meinhoff, Germany
ETA, Spain
USA
Russia and Chechnya
Al-Qaeda
This module will be taught through a combination of video lectures and collaborative seminars. Lectures will provide an introduction to the key aspects of terrorist threats and responses, laying the foundations for tutorial work. In the standard teaching version of seminars, these will foster students’ direct engagement with the topic through critical discussions of the key literature and its application to concrete cases. Regarding online knowledge transmission and acquisition, the foundation for delivery is CANVAS, the Institute’s virtual learning environment (VLE). Using this as a content platform, each module site is organised into bi-weekly packages. Although the exact content will vary, they normally include explanatory text, audio podcasts, directed readings, additional readings, and a variety of internal and external links. We provide our learners with the opportunity to interact with one another and their tutors through asynchronous discussion boards addressing seminar questions and completing elaborate tasks. Experience has shown that this mode provides a more equal opportunity for engagement than synchronous discussions. For some modules student blogs, portfolios, online problem-based learning or webinars within the VLE are also used.
This course is provided digitally on the IES Structure on-line Canvas platform.
Knowledge and Understanding
On successful completion of this module students will be able to demonstrate:
1. An ability to comprehend several different EU Member States and EU institutions responses to the threat of terrorism;
2. An ability to explore the difficulties that democracies face in balancing the requirements of security and civil liberties;
3. An ability to appreciate the changing nature of terrorism and consider possible future directions of the phenomenon
4. An understanding of the context and history of terrorism in Europe;
Transferable/Key Skills and other attributes
Upon completion of this module, students will have had the opportunity to:
1. learn to manage time pressure, and make concise explanation of their arguments through the essay research and writing process, which also provides students with the opportunity to:
a. demonstrate the development of research skills;
b. demonstrate subject specific research techniques;
c. apply a range of methodologies to complex political problems.
2.develop their critical capabilities to assess both political and documentary evidence, and to make written arguments in a coherent, structures and persuasive way;
3. develop their IT skills (word processing and the use of the internet for research purposes);
4. perform their cultivated inter-personal skills and oral and written communication skills through seminar participation (in the standard teaching format), and increase their confidence in making oral arguments and giving short presentations before an audience. The seminar format will further encourage discussion and debate of differing viewpoints;
5. In the distance learning format of online tutorials, students will have had the opportunity to:
a. Perform inter-personal skills with a long-distance medium;
b. Enhance their written communication skills.
6. Identify and define the information required on a given topic and use research skills to identify relevant information resources.
7.Manage and critically evaluate the information found and reference appropriately.
The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 100% of the final mark.
Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:
Each of the six modules comes with an assignment, each differing in format (from individual to collaborative work, to peer review). The successful completion of each assignment is individually graded and counts for 10% of the final grade. At the end of the course students are required to submit a substantial final research paper that is a case study (previously assigned to them). This counts for 40% of the final grade. In practice:
This course offer isn't part of a fixed set of graduation requirements. Hence, it is a free elective.