Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POC3142: Social and Islamist Armed Movements

This module descriptor refers to the 2022/3 academic year.

Please note that this module is only delivered on the Penryn Campus.

Module Aims

This module aims to equip you with the conceptual and theoretical tools necessary for understanding Social and armed Islamist Movements. It will familiarise you with the latest research on Social movements and encourage you to develop a critical perspective in analysing existing research. You will be exposed to a variety of methodological approaches and challenges in research from the field of Social and Armed Movements. The course examines Movements with a special emphasis on questions related to identity, representation, existence, culture, politics and regional and international interventions. The module aims at locating the topic in a global perspective. After ISIS other armed Islamist movements are becoming the defining feature of the 21st century in the ME area.

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 key theoretical debates, concepts and issues surrounding the phenomenon of Islamist and armed movements. 2. Understanding the major armed Islamist movements, their behaviours, ideologies and the contexts in which they operate. 3. Demonstrate that the Movements can provide considerable insight into crucial aspects and dimensions in the state, and demonstrate the ability to discuss key-issues in the themes of Islamism.
Discipline-Specific Skills	4. Critically employ concepts learnt in a global perspective and develop critical arguments. 5. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of existing research, and Use and analyse cross-disciplinary data relevant to specific issues. 6. Ability to handle recent Islamist terminology. Ability to analyse and analyse both primary and secondary sources as well as to place the issues discussed in a wider context.
Personal and Key Skills	7. Display an ability to conduct critical analyses and evaluation of the subject topics, through readings, class discussions and presentations. Organisation of time and resources. 8. Work independently and with peers to achieve goals. 9. Enhancing the ability of the students to undertake comparative and cross-regional

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

While the precise content will vary from year to year, it is expected that the module will include lectures on the following themes:
• Theoretical Approaches: Islamism and Armed Activism:
• Armed Islamism and the Arab Spring
• Jihadism and Armed Islamism
• From Upper-Egypt to Sinai: Islamist Insurgencies in Egypt
• Transnational Subversive Jihadism: The Case of al-Qaida Network
• Islamic State
• The Military Capacity of the Islamic State
• Armed Islamism in Syria
• The Foreign Fighters
• Jihad after Iraq: Lessons from the Arab Afghan
• Hamas – Gaza and Armed Islamism

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

...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	11 x 1 hour seminars
Guided independent study	65	Private study, reading and preparing for seminars (approx. 6 hours of private study per seminar)
Guided independent study	28	Researching and writing the policy note
Guided independent study	30	Researching and writing essay
Guided independent study	5	Preparing formative presentation

Online Resources

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