MHG 325 Wed 2:30-5:30
Number: / PUBPOL 762 / E / 3 /Name: / Transnational Terrorism, Religion and The Limits of Reason
Topics: / National Security/International Diplomacy
In Fall 2006, this course will be taught by Professor Scott Atran.
Spectacular and theatrical displays of terror, such as suicide bombings, are now banner actions for a thoroughly modern global diaspora that is religious in inspiration, and which claims the role of vanguard for a massive, transnational political awakening spurred by near universal access to world media. Why are so many enraptured by the jihadi message of martyrdom? Contemporary terrorists who target civilians are often publicly perceived to be crazed cowards bent on senseless destruction who thrive in poverty and ignorance. Recent research indicates that they have no appreciable psychopathology and are as educated and economically well-off as surrounding populations. Why do so many in our society, including political leaders and media analysts, appear to be willfully ignorant of this. If terrorists are generally ordinary people, who span a society's normal distribution (education and intelligence level, economic and social status, etc.), then what makes so many of them ready to die in order to kill even children and other noncombatants? In particular, what psychological and anthropological insights from the study of religion might be used to effectively understand and eventually diminish terrorism, including our own society's contribution to the genesis and growth of terrorism at home and abroad? How may religiously-motivated moral reason override or interact with instrumental forms of reasoning to generate, or parry, terrorism?
For all class readings, go to the following website:
and click on:
Ford 06/
Readings with an asterisk (*) are required; other readings are optional
Wk 1, Sept 6
Introduction & presentation of syllabus.
S. Atran, “Global Network Terrorism,” Briefing to the National Security and Homeland Security Councils, White House, Washington, DC, April 2006; available at
WK 2, Sept 13, Terrorism Networks
*L. Beam, “Leaderless Resistance,” The Seditionist, No 12, 1993 (written in 1983).
*G. Weimann, “ How Modern Terrorism Uses the Internet,”United States Institute of Peace, Special Report No; 116, March 2004,
*International Crisis Group, “Terrorism in Indonesia: Noordin’s Networks,” Asia Report No 14, May 5, 2006; Executive summary:
(students are required to read the full report, which will be made available on course tools)
UK House of Commons, “Report of the official account of the bombings in London on 7th July 2005,” No 1087 2005–06, May 11, 2006. London: The Stationery Office.
USA v. Zacaria Moussaoui, Criminal Case 2001-455, Defendant’s Exhibit No 946, United States District Courtfor the Eastern District ff Virginia, Alexandria Division, March 2006.
R. Fox, “Liquid Bomb Plot: Not the First Time,” The First Post (online magazine), Aug 2006.
WK 3, Sept 20, Suicide Terrorism
*R. Pape, “The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism,” American Political Science Review 97:1-19 (2003).
*M. Bloom, “Dying to Kill,” Paper presented to the Harrington Workshop on Terrorism, Univerzity of texas, Austin, 2006.
*S. Atran, “The Moral Logic and Growth of Suicide Terrorism,” The Washington Quarterly 29, 127-147, Spring 2006.
Overview of Stanley Milgram’s Experiment on “Obedince to Authority,”
M. Alvanou, “Islamic Incitement and Palestinian Female Suicide Terrorism,” paper presented at the 2005 CESNUR Conference in Palermo, Sicily.
Y. Schweitzer, S. G. Ferber, “Al-Qaeda and the Internationalization of Suicide Terrorism,” The Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Memorandum No 78, Nov 2005.
WK 4, Sept 27, Clash of Civilizations
*S.Huntington, "The Clash of Civilizations?" Foreign Affairs, Summer 1993, 72/3
*K. Ahmad, “Terrorism: Points to Ponder,” paper presented to the Fourth Meeting of the Permanent Monitoring Panel on Terrorism, World Federation of Scientists, Erice, Italy, May, 2005, pp. 23-28.
*Pew Global Attitudes Project, “America's Image Slips, But Allies Share U.S. Concerns Over Iran, Hamas,” June 13, 2006.
*E. Said, “The Clash of Ignorance,” The Nation, Oct 22, 2001.
“Bin Laden Calls for Jihad in Darfur,” Reuters News Service, April 23, 2006.
Congressional Research Service, “Sudan: Humanitarian Crisis, Peace Talks, terrorism and U.S. Policy,” Library of Congress, April 12, 2006.
Comments of Israeli Maj Gen Isaac Ben Israel on the “Clash of Civilizations.”
“Global Networked Terrorism – How Did it Start and Why? Reponses from Scientists. World Federation of Scientists, Summer 2004.
WK 5, Oct 4, Religion
*R. Sosis, C. Alcorta, “Signaling, Solidarity, and the Sacred: The Evolution of Religious Behavior,” Evolutionary Anthropology 12:264-274, 2003.
*R. Dawkins, “Religion's Misguided Missiles: Reaction to September 11th events in the USA,” The Guardian (online), Sept18, 2001.
*“Q & A with Sam Harris,” Author of The End of Faith, Third World Traveler (online)
*S. Atran, “What Would Gandhi Do Today? Nonviolence in an Age of Terrorism," speech to Gandhian Nonviolence Conference, GeorgetownUniversity and MK Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, Sept 10, 200-.
“Interview with EvolutionPhilosopher Daniel Dennett: Darwinism Completely RefutesIntelligent Design," Der Spiegel (online), Dec 26, 2005.
S. Atran, A. Norenzayan, “Religion’s evolutionary landscape: Counterintuition, commitment, compassion, communion.” Behavioral and Brain Sciences27:713-770, 2004.
WK 6, Oct 11, Sacred Values
*A. Fiske, P. Tetlock, “Taboo trade-offs,” Political Psychology 18:255-297, 1997.
*A. Varshney, “Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict, and Rationality,” Perspectives on Politics 1:85-99, 2003.
*J. Ginges, S. Atran, D. Medin, “Sacred Bounds on Rational Resolution of Conflict: The Middle East and Beyond,” Manuscript, August, 2006.
*S. Roberts, “Revisiting a Killing Field in Poland,” New York Times, Nov 4, 2005.
S. Atran, “Sacred Values, Terrorism, and the Limits of Rational Choice,” presented to the Interagency Meeting, Dept; Homeland Security, April, 2006.
WK 7, Oct 18, Terrorism: Background History
*D. Rapoport, 'The Four Waves of Terror and September 11," Anthropoetics 8(1), Spring / Summer 2002.
*J. Weinstein, "Resources and the Information Problem in Rebel Recruitment," Manuscript, The Center for Global Development and StanfordUniversity, 2003.
*M. Sageman, "The Psychology of Qaeda Terrorists," Manuscript, Sageman Consulting and the University of Pennsylvania, 2005.
* J. Drummond, "From the Northwest Imperative to Global Jihad: Social Psychological Aspects of the Construction of the Enemy, Political Violence, and Terror," in J. Horgan (ed.) The Psychology of Terrorism: A Public Understanding, New York: Routledge, pp. 50-95, 2005.
M. Burgess, "Terrorism: The Problems of Definition," Center for Defense Information, August 1, 2003.
J. Gray, "Why Terrorism is Unbeatable," The New Statesman (review article), February 25, 2002.
WK 8, Oct 25, U.S. Empire
* N. Chomsky, "Rogue States," Z Magazine, April 1998.
*M. Ignatieff, "The Burden," New York Times Magazine, January 5, 2003.
*The National Security Strategy of the United States of America, The White House, September 2002.
*M. Mesbahi, "Motive, Mitigation and Normative Dissonance: The Erice Dilemma," paper presented to the Fourth Meeting of the Permanent Monitoring Panel on Terrorism, World Federation of Scientists, Erice, Italy, May, 2005, pp. 44-61.
"On Terrorism," N. Chomsky, interviewed by J. Bolender, Jump Arts Journal, January 2004.
U. Avnery, "United States: Architects of Empire," Green Left Weekly, April 23, 2003.
Interview with A. Bacevich, author of American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U.S. Diplomacy," Carnegie Council, April 9, 2003.
O. Bin Laden, Text of Fatwa Declaring War Against the Americans Occupying the Two Holy Places," Al Quds al-Arabi, August 1996.
O. Bin Laden, A. al-Zawahiri et al., Text of Fatwa Urging Jihad Against Americans, Al Quds al-Arabi, February 23, 1998.
WK 9, Nov 1, Iraq, Iran
*International Crisis Group, "In Their Own Words: Reading the Iraqi Insurgency," Middle East Report No. 50, February 15, 2006.
*Council on Foreign Relations, "Iraq; Insurgency Goals," May 20, 2005.
*G. Stick, "Iran: Confronting Terrorism," The Washington Quarterly 26:83-98, Autumn 2003.
*F. Khosrokhavar, "The New Conservatives Take a Turn," Middle East Report 233, Winter 2004.
*D. Byman, "Should Hezbollah Be Nextr?" Foreign Affairs 82:54-66.
E. Mohtasham, "The Clash of Ideologies or Peaceful Multilateral Negotiations Based on National Interests: The Degree of Iran's Commitment on the Treaty of Non Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons," presentation to the United Nations NPT Review Conference, May 25, 2005.
"Iraq Insurgency in Last Throes, Cheney Says," CNN.com, June 20, 2005.
J. Stern, "How America Created a Terrorist Haven," New York Times, August 20, 2003. [Note to students: Use this article and url rather than the reading provided in the online course pack]
WK 10, Nov 8, Pakistan
*S. Burgess, "Struggle for the Control of Pakistan: Musharraf Takes on the Radicals," in B. Schenider, J. Post (eds.) Know Thy enemy: Profiles of Adversary Enemies and Their Strategic Cultures, chapter 4, USAFCounterproliferationCenter, July 2003.
*H. Haqqani, "The Role of Islam in Pakistan's Future," The Washington Quarterly 28:85-96, Winter 2005.
*P. Hoodbhoy, "Waiting for Enlightenment," Economic and Political Weekly (India) and The Friday Times (Pakistan), July 21/22 , 2006.
*S. Ganguly, "Explaining the Kashmir Insurgency: Political Mobilization and Institutional Decay," International Security 21(2), Fall 1996.
S. Atran, "Troubling Events in Pakistan, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, October 2006.
S. Sengupta, "India Fears Pakistan May Attract its Muslims," New York Times, August 9, 2006.
K.A. Kronstadt, "Pakistan-U.S. Relations," CRS Issue Brief for Congress, April 27, 2005.
WK 11, Nov 15, Case Study: hamas
*M. Hafez, J. Hatfield, "Do Targeted Assassinations Work? A Multi-Variate Analaysis of Israeli Counter-Terrorism Effectiveness During Al-Aqsa Uprising," Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 29:359-382.
*I. Ben-Israel, O. Setter, A. Tishler, "R&D and the War on Terrorism: Generalizing the Israeli Experience," paper presented to the NATO AWR, "Suicide Terrorism: The Strategic Threat," Lisbon, June 2004 (end graph updated through end 2004).
*A. Pedahzur, A. Perliger, "The Changing Nature of Suicide Attacks: A Social Network Perspective," Social Forces 84:1987-2008, 2006.
*S. Atran, "Tuning Out Hell's Harpists: Conversations with Hamas," paper presented to the World Federation of Scientists, Permanent Monitoring Panel Terrorism, Geneva, October 2004.
S. Atran, "Is Hamas Ready to Deal?' New York Times, August 17, 2006. [Note to students: Use this article and url rather than the reading provided in the online course pack]
WK 12, Nov 29 (note: no class Nov 22, Thanksgiving break), Counterterrorism
*J. Record, "Bounding the Global War on Terrorism," The Strategic Studies Institute, U.S.ArmyWarCollege, December 2003.
*S. Atran, "A Failure of Imagination: IOntelligence, WMDs, and "Virtual Jihad," Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 29:263-278, 2006.
*W. Kip Viscusi, R. Zekhauser, "Sacrificing Civil Liberties," AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatroy Studies, Working Paper 03-1, January 2003.
*S. Fiske, A. Harris, L. Cuddy, "Why Ordinary People Torture Enemy Prisoners," Science 306:1482-1483, November 26, 2004.
Overview of P. Zimbardo's "Stanford Prison Experiment"
Ben-Israel, "Philosophy and Methodology of Military Intelligence: Correspondence with Paul Feyerabend," Philosophia 28:1-4, 2001.
B. Fischhoff, S. Atran, M. Sageman, "The Doctrine of Mutually Assured Support: Preparing for a Terrorist Nuclear Attack," presented to the World Federation of Scientists Permanent Monitoring Panel on Terrorism, Erice, Italy, May 2005.
WK 13, Dec 6, Radicalization
*S. Atran, “The Emir: An Interview with Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, Alleged Leader of the Southeast Asian Jemaah Islamiyah Organization,” Jamestown Spotlight on Terror 3:9, Sept 15, 2005.
*P. Bergen, S. Pandey, “The Madrassa Scapegoat,” The Washington Quarterly 29:117-125, Spring 2006.
*J. Magouirk, “Connecting a Thousand Points of Hatred,” Manuscript, July 2006.
* F. Khosrokhavar, “Radicalization through Religion,” presented to the Interagency Meeting, Dept; Homeland Security, April, 2006.
“Radicalization in U.S. Prisons,” preliminary report, July 2006.
Wk 14, Dec 13, Summary of Student Papers