This course will provide a systematic study of
the legal definition and responses to terrorism.
The course will discuss the causes and
consequences of international and domestic
terrorism, and explore the responses of
International Law and certain national legal
systems to the practices of terrorism.
The course will start with a historical overview
of practices that could be identified as
terroristic in nature, such as assassinations,
piracy, kidnapping, and banditry. It will then
focus on terrorism, as a theoretical concept,
and the efforts to formulate legal definitions of
terrorism in International Law. In this context,
the course will analyze the discourses on the
right to self-determination, both in domestic
and international contexts. Part of this
inquiry will focus on the history and theory of
political crimes, and whether such crimes are
distinguishable from common criminal acts.
A significant part of understanding the idea of
political crimes will be to discuss the theories of
the economic and social reasons for terrorism,
and what some have called the “pathologies
of terrorism” of the psychology of terrorism.
The course will also study the arguments for
and against the idea of state terrorism (the idea
that states can commit the crime of terrorism
by economic or military warfare). The second
half of the course will focus on international and
national responses to terrorism. In examining
the international responses to terrorism,
the course will analyze several international
instruments, such as the hijacking convention
and the convention for the protection of
diplomats, which seek to combat specific acts
of terrorism. Also studied will be the liability of
states for state-sponsored terrorism and rights
of victims to compensation.
Language of Instruction: English (legal terms,
however, are also given in Arabic and French).