Undergraduate Module Descriptor

ARA3158: Armed Islamist Movements: Jihadism and Beyond

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Aims

This module aims to provide you with an understanding of the complex relationships between Islamism and various types of armed action including, coups, resistance, insurgency and terrorism. It prepares you to constructively engage in academic and policy debates on armed Islamism and the related issues of security, democratization, demobilization, and counter-terrorism in several Muslim-majority and Muslim-minority states.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills	1. understand the major armed Islamist movements, their behaviours, ideologies and the contexts in which they operate; 2. demonstrate the ability to discuss key-issues in the themes of Islamism and political violence;
Discipline-Specific Skills	3. handle recent Islamist terminology; 4. analyse and critique both primary and secondary sources as well as to place the issues discussed in a wider context;
Personal and Key Skills	5. demonstrate critical and analytical skills through readings, class discussions and presentations; 6. organise time and resources; 7. demonstrate an enhanced ability to undertake comparative and cross-regional analysis; 8. give oral presentations and write essays.

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

Islamism and Political Violence: Introduction and Theories
Jihadism: Historical Roots and Ideological Versions
National Jihadism in Egypt and Libya
Pragmatic Jihadism? Ballots and Bullets in Algeria and Tajikistan
Global Jihadism: Between al-Qa’ida Central and al-Qa’ida Franchise
Jihadism in the United Kingdom and Europe
Armed Islamism and Colonialism: Hamas and Hizbullah
Armed Islamism and Secession: The Case of Chechnya
Afghanistan and the Endless Jihad
The De-Radicalization of Jihadists
Conclusion and Revisions

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
22	128	0

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching activity	22	The module will consist of lectures, seminars and student presentations. Each two-hourly seminar will commence with a student presentation(s), followed by a class discussion about the assigned topic, and will conclude with a lecture on the topic for the following week.
Guided Independent study	38	Weekly reading for seminars
Guided Independent study	18	Preparing seminar presentation
Guided Independent study	66	Researching and writing op-ed and essay
Guided Independent study	6	Web-based activities

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).