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MASARYK UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND EUROPEAN STUDIES
MVZ 203 / 448
Terrorism, Political Violence, & the Law
Spring 2010
Midterm Examination
Study Guide
Date of Exam: Wednesday, April 21st
, 8-9:30 am
PLEASE BRING TWO SHEETS OF BLANK PAPER & A PEN
Lectures: You should have reviewed and studied ALL materials placed on reserve for the class.
This includes supplemental materials such as articles by Pape, Tucker, The Geneva Convention,
Fatwas issued by OBL, etc. and the "Backgrounder" materials.
Lecture Terms: You will define terms drawn from our principal texts, Hoffman's Inside
Terrorism, Sageman's Leaderless Jihad and the Final Report of the 9/11 Commission. This is
just an example of how terms will be drawn from the lecture and reading materials and is NOT an
exhaustive list of all terms that might appear on the exam. All that we have below are examples of
how terms might be used from lectures in the exam itself. To be prepared, you should be
comfortable writing a few sentences for each of the following (for example define the term, explain
why it is relevant for terrorism studies, and provide an example):
1) Typology of Political Crimes
2) Typology of Terrorism
3) Terrorism Definitions, Academic
4) Official USG Terror Definitions
5) Hoffman Definition of Terrorism
6) Components Necessary to Define
"Terrorism"
7) Rationality of Terrorism
8) Terror Myths
9) Terror Typologies & Group Types
10) IEDs/VBIEDs
11) "Fifth Wave Terrorism"
12) Evolution of Conflict
13) Asymmetric Conflict
14) Terrorism Data; Events; Historical
Developments
15) US Domestic Terrorism
16) Psychology of Terrorism
17) Terror Networks & Organizations
18) Terror Funding
19) Radical Jihadists & AQ
20) Sageman's "Leaderless Jihad" networks
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Application: "Applying & Defining Terrorism," You must define terrorism and then apply
your definition to a series of hypothetical cases. The only "correct" answers to the cases are the
ones consistent with the definition you choose.
For the definitions, in the cases of Hoffman and Sageman, the authors use and refer to
many acronyms in each chapter that you should be familiar with for this exam. In the case
of the Final Report, there is in Appendix A, a section titled, "Common Abbreviations" that
you should also review.
Terms From Readings & Lectures, Examples:
mala prohibita mala in se "state" terrorism
"non-state" terrorism NWLF state-sponsored terrorism
state-sanctioned terrorism omnicide democide
DCI NIE Black Panthers / Black Liberation Army
FALN FARC INLA
JI Hamas Hezbollah / Hizbollah
The Aryan Brotherhood Nihilism ZOG
Weather Underground SLA jihad
Mujahidin MIPT Stockholm Syndrome
Ramzi Ahmed Yousef ecoterrorism Christian Identity Movement
FLN/GIA "The Base" The Geneva Convention
Abu Sayyaf Group PKK LTTE
Suicide Terrorism ETA FIS
Short Answers, Identifications, Summary Answers: To be prepared, you should be
comfortable writing a few out one to not more than two paragraphs on each of the following:
Explain the difficulty of defining "terrorism."
What are the component parts & variables of "terrorism?"
Define & provide examples of "traditional" terrorism versus "new" terrorism.
Is conflict an inherent part of the human condition/experience? Explain this assumption.
Know the acronyms in APPENDIX A, of the Final 9-11 Commission Report (2004).
List and define the 3 broad arguments on the "roots of terrorism"
Define "state-sponsored" terrorism & how it is different from "state-sanctioned" terrorism
Define the "waves of terrorism" thesis
Foreign Terror Organizations (FTOs) list by US State Dept. (2005, 2008), on MU IS Reserve