Block 1: Conceptualizations of Terrorism

• Traditional and Critical Approaches to Security Studies

Block 2: Situating International Terrorism: Causes, Transformation and the International War on Terror

• Colonial borders in the end of the 90s
• Preventive War, a Doctrine
• Al-Qaeda and its evolution to the Islamic State
• Global Terrorism Index, Al-Qaeda in the North of Africa

Block 3: Rethinking Counter-Terrorism: Preventing Violent Radicalization in the Face of Current Terrorism Trends

• Moving beyond international wars against external and internal enemies
• Humanitarian approaches for the prevention of political violence
• Peacebuilding processes of political violence

Block 4: Communist Internationalism during the Cold War: From Sierra Maestra to Luanda

• Decolonization and wars of independence: Protracted People's War and Foquismo
• Security Doctrine against the “internal enemy”: The CounterInsurgent War
• Armed groups emerging from the counter-insurgency warfare doctrine

Block 5: From Counterinsurgency Warfare to Criminal Governance and its Securitizing Response

• Systemic violence in Latin America as a consequence of the counter-insurgency doctrine
• From counter-insurgency warfare to the war on drugs
• Pacification of criminal governance from the local level: lessons from communal practices and non-aggression pacts

Case studies

CB2, CB3, CB4 CG1, CG2, CG4

CE2, CE15, CE20

Lecture, Seminars, Debates, practical assignments

Ahmad, A. (2017). Jihad & Co.: black markets and Islamist power. Oxford University Press.

Akilu, F. (2021). Peaceful Societies and Leaving No One Behind. In Fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals (pp. 407-416). Routledge.

Alonso, R. et al. (2008). Radicalization Processes Leading to Acts of Terrorism, European Commission

Apter, D. (1997). The legitimization of violence. NYU Press.

Asri, F. E., & Mesa, B. (2021). Extrémisme (s) violent (s) en perspective: jeunes et femmes dans le contexte marocain. Extrémisme (s) violent (s) en perspective: jeunes et femmes dans le contexte marocain, 139-158.

Body-Gendrot, S., & Spierenburg, P. (Eds.). (2008). Violence in Europe. Springer-Verlag New York.

Booth, K. (Ed.). (2005). Critical security studies and world politics (pp. 259-278). London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

Brown, M. E., Cote Jr, O. R., Lynn-Jones, S. M., & Miller, S. E. (Eds.). (2010). Contending with Terrorism: Roots, strategies, and responses. MIT Press.

Buzan, B., Wæver, O., & De Wilde, J. (1998). Security: A new framework for analysis. Lynne Rienner Publishers.

Cabnal, L. (2017). TZK'AT, Red de sanadoras ancestrales del feminismo comunitario desde Iximulew-Guatemala. Ecología política, 98-102.

Cabnal, L. (2010). Acercamiento a la construcción de la propuesta de pensamiento epistémico de las mujeres indígenas feministas comunitarias de Abya Yala. Momento de paro Tiempo de Rebelión, 116(3), 14-17.

Calle, L., & Sánchez-Cuenca, I. (2011). What we talk about when we talk about terrorism. Politics & Society, 39(3), 451-472.

Cockburn, P. (2016). Chaos & Caliphate: Jihadis and the West in the Struggle for the Middle East, ‎ Or Books Llc

Della Porta, D. (2018). Radicalization: A relational perspective. Annual Review of Political Science, 21(1), 461-474.

Durán-Martínez, A. (2018). The Politics of Drug Violence: Criminals, Cops and Politicians in Colombia and Mexico. Oxford University Press.

Fanon, F. (1961). The Wretched of the Earth (Les Damnés de la Terre). François Maspero.

Grajales, J. (2013). State Involvement, Land Grabbing and Counter-Insurgency in Colombia (Development and Change), 44(2) pp 211-232

Hoffman, B. (2018). Inside terrorism. In Inside Terrorism. Columbia University Press.

Hoffman, B., & Reinares, F. (Eds.). (2014). The evolution of the global terrorist threat: From 9/11 to Osama bin Laden's death. Columbia University Press.

Johnston, J. (2000). Pedagogical guerrillas, armed democrats, and revolutionary counterpublics: Examining paradox in the Zapatista unprising in Chiapas Mexico. Theory and Society, 29(4), 463-505

Koppel, T. (2015). Lights out: a cyberattack, a nation unprepared, surviving the aftermath. Broadway Books.

Lessing, B. (2021). Conceptualizing criminal governance. Perspectives on Politics, 19(3), 854-873

López, T. M. (2018). Terrorismo y comportamiento político: España y el caso de ETA, Doctoral dissertation, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

Mbembe, A. (2008). Necropolitics. Palgrave Macmillan UK.

McMahon, Robert J. (2003). The Cold War: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press

Mesa, B. (2017). Le rôle transformateur des groupes armés du nord du Mali: de l'insurrection djihadiste et sécessionniste au crime organisé (1996-2017) (Doctoral dissertation, Université Grenoble Alpes (ComUE)).

Mesa, B. (2025). The failure of the West in Africa: The new threat we don't want to see. Cordoba: Almuzara.

Moghaddam, F. M. (2005). The Staircase to Terrorism: A Psychological Exploration. American Psychologist, 60(2), 161–169.

Moskalenko, S., & McCauley, C. (2008). Mechanisms of Political Radicalization: Pathways Toward Terrorism. Terrorism and Political Violence, 20(3), 415-433.

Mueller, J. (2008). The Atomic Terrorist: Assessing the Likelihood. prepared for presentation at the Program on International Security Policy, University of Chicago, 15.

National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (2020). Global Terrorism Index 2020, Institute for Economics and Peace

Neumann, P. R. (2016). Radicalized: new jihadists and the threat to the West. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Richards, A. (2014). Conceptualizing terrorism. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 37(3), 213-236.

Said, E. W. (1988). The Essential Terrorist. En Blaming the Victims: Spurious Scholarship and the Palestinian Question. Verso.

Sageman, M. (2004). Understanding Terror Networks. University of Pennsylvania Press.

Orentlicher, D. (2018). Some kind of justice: The ICTY's impact in Bosnia and Serbia. Oxford University Press.

Sánchez-Cuenca, I., & De la Calle, L. (2009). Domestic terrorism: The hidden side of political violence. Annual Review of Political Science, 12, 31-49.

Shapiro, J. N. (2013). The terrorist's dilemma. In The Terrorist's Dilemma. Princeton University Press.

Tilly, C. (2003) The Politics of Collective Violence. New York: Cambridge University Press

Trejo, G., & Ley, S. (2018). Why did drug cartels go to war in Mexico? Subnational party alternation, the breakdown of criminal protection, and the onset of large-scale violence. Comparative Political Studies, 51(7), 900-937.

Tzul Tzul, G. (2018). Sistemas de gobierno comunal indígena: Mujeres y tramas de parentesco en Chuimeq'ena'. México: Instituto Amaq.

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2012). The Use of the Internet for Terrorist Purposes, United Nations

Urdal, H. (2006). A Clash of Generations? Youth Bulges and Political Violence. International Studies Quarterly, 50(3), 607-629.

US Government (2012). Guide to the Analysis of Insurgency, US Government

• Group Assignments 40%
• Final Essay 60%