School of Politics and International Studies

If you …

• want to discover more about the technologies and tactics of terror groups.
• examine the repercussions of 9/11.
• study the formation of public policy to counter terrorism.
• develop your understanding of state sponsorship of terrorism.

… then MA Security, Terrorism and Insurgency could be the right course for you.

MA Security, Terrorism and Insurgency addresses the phenomenon of terrorism in the 20th and 21st centuries.

This course provides you with the opportunity to study theoretical approaches to terrorism, and assess empirical data on a wide range of terrorist groups and networks. You will examine the response of the liberal state to these types of threat, and analyse terrorism in relation to the contemporary international system. 

You will cover the politics and strategies of terrorism, the structure and dynamic of terrorist groups and terror group operations, the technologies and tactics of terrorist groups and investigate state and non-state terror.

The programme allows you to consider national liberation movements during the Cold War, the Arab-Israeli conflict and terrorism in the Middle East, urban terror in Western Europe and radical Islam. You will also analyse the emergence of Al-Quaeda, global terror networks and the threat of weapons of mass destruction, alongside the efforts to counter terrorism, in particular, the US-led 'war on terror'.