F1IS 5505 - Terrorists, Kingpins and Cybercriminals: The Global Security Risk of Violent Non-State Actors

This course will focus on the global security implications of violent non-state actors, who in recent years have become more lethal, networked, and technologically savvy. While there are numerous categories of violent non-state actors, this course will mainly focus on the groups that are transnational. These will include actors from both sides of the political and criminal spectrum. They will include political, religious, racial and ethnic violent extremists, criminal groups including cybercriminals and drug kingpins. The course will describe their multiple ideologies, their governance structures, and their motivations. The course will describe the multiple factors that led to their rise in many parts of the world, including: resurgent geopolitical competition, climate change, conflict and war, and emerging and disruptive technologies. The course will also describe how the global pandemic, the global economic downturn, and the technological revolution, the Russia-Ukraine war and the wars in the Middle East have helped to further weaken the political, economic and social stability of states and regions, further emboldening and reinforcing the power of violent non-state actors. Finally, the course will focus on some of the national, regional and international responses to prevent and counter violent non-state actors. Students will be encouraged to explore and design more effective out-of-the box thinking on preventing, countering and reintegrating violent non-state actors by harnessing the power of new technologies.

Learning Outcomes

Acquire knowledge about the growing global security risks of violent non-state actors.

• Acquire knowledge about the evolution and root causes of violent extremism.
• Acquire knowledge about key transnational terrorist groups and their modus operandi.
• Develop an understanding of the evolution of methods used by violent extremist groups to promote and spread their ideologies worldwide both in the physical and the digital domains.
• Deepen knowledge of organised crime in general, and cybercrime in particular.

Acquire knowledge about how the global pandemic, the global economic downturn and conflict and wars have reinforced both terrorism, extremism and transnational crime worldwide.

• Formulate new research and policy making skills in countering and preventing violent extremism, terrorism and transnational organised crime.
• Acquire new skills in designing a national action plan on preventing violent extremism.
• Acquire new skills in understanding the complexity of gender dynamics when designing prevention strategies.
• Expand objective and critical analyses of the complex and transnational security issues of today's interconnected world.
• Enhance knowledge and understanding of new and emerging challenges to international peace and security and how they may interact with existing human security challenges.
• Enhance your ability to design, generate and pursue effective, sustainable and compassionate policy making decisions.

Professional Skills

Communicating effectively and adequately orally.

• Collecting and analysing information to increase understanding of a topic or issue.
• Understanding and taking into account the priorities and concerns of others.
• Communicating effectively and adequately in writing.
• Looking at problems or situations from an original perspective.
• Enhance your ability to write clear, concise and valuable policy papers.

No prerequisites are required to take this course.

A policy paper topic will be submitted no later than the fourth session. The policy paper topic will include the the title, focus and references that will be used for the policy paper. The policy paper should be fully referenced with an approximate length between 4,000-4,500 words. The final policy paper will be due at the beginning of session 11 (please submit your paper electronically to christina.liang@sciencespo.fr

Feedback on Oxford-style debates and group work will be shared immediately after the session either publicly or privately depending on the outcome.

The assessment of students' performance will be based on two main elements: class participation during multiple class exercises, and a final policy paper on a relevant topic which has been approved by the instructor.

The course requires students to be inclusive and open to interdisciplinary thinking as well as open to new perspectives on different subjects and regions of the world. Based on the discussion of key readings and using several interactive teaching methods (e.g. presentation of policy papers and Oxford-Style Debates).

The main assignment is an individual policy paper which will count for 60% of the grade. The course will be graded through a policy paper (60%) and class participation and activities and projects prepared in class (40%).

• The policy paper should focus on a subject situated broadly within the overall topic and themes discussed in this class. The process towards the policy paper will include the following steps and deadlines:
• Proposition of a paper topic due at the beginning of session 3, including:

(a) a security issue including a description of the current security challenge(s)

(b) an argument supporting why finding a solution to this issue is important,

(c) a list of relevant scholarly literature to support and provide evidence of the issue and

(d) the approach and method used to describe the policy question, and

(e) provide creative and innovative ideas on short, medium, and long term policy and/or local, national, regional, and international responses to deal with the issue.

Examples of effective, concise and valuable policy papers will be distributed in class for guidance.

• The class participation grade will be based on the following: presence, active participation when discussing assigned readings as well as active participation in group activities – Oxford-style debates and various other group work including designing national action plans on Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) and cybercrime.

In Class Presence: 8 hours a month / 24 hours a semester

Online learning activities: .1 hour per course / 6 hours a semester

Reading and Preparation for Class: 1 hour a week / 12 hours a semester

Research and Preparation for Group Work: 1 hour a week / 12 hours a semester

Research and Writing for Individual Assessments: 2 hours a week / 24 hours a semester