Political Science 596.03H-0010, Autumn 2010      25185
Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

Terrorism in the United States

Tuesday 3:30-6:18, Derby 150

John Mueller
Derby 2112 and Mershon Center (8th and Neil) 220D
Department of Political Science
614-247-6007
614-292-2407 (fax)
bbbb@osu.edu
http://polisci.osu.edu/faculty/jmueller

This honors seminar will seek to assess the capacities, motives, and intent of people who have been charged with planning terrorist attacks in the United States since 9/11. Using books, reportage, and, where possible, court documents, it will detail each case, something that has not been done systematically to date. This body of information will then be compared to the literature about terrorism more generally, and it will also be used to assess the degree to which terrorism presents a threat. The first weeks will be devoted to an assessment of the literature on the motivations, origins, and activities of terrorists. Then individual students will be assigned individual cases to research and report on, a process that will result in a final paper. There will be no exams and the grade will be derived from class participation and written reports. Prerequisite: Honors student.