First Midterm

Directions: Select on of the following questions and write a comprehensive essay providing the analysis and evidence necessary to answer the question as fully as possible. The paper should be no less than five double-spaced pages in length. The Essay is due to the instructor of record by May 5-12, 2007.

1. While terrorism has been around for a considerable time, only since the French Revolution has terrorism made serious strides in either mobilizing governments to intimidate opponents or to force change throughout society. How did the Russians and early socialists gravitate toward the terrorist ideal? How effective were the Russian terrorists?

2. Walter Laqueur contends that terrorism is of recent origins; however, is that contention true? What do we know about the evolution of terrorism from the ancients through the Medieval period? What similarities exist between those groups and modern terrorists? Explain. 

3. One of the greatest fears for public officials throughout Europe and the developed world was the concept of the "propaganda by deed." The idea was basically one rooted deeply in anarchist principals. Yet how effective was it? How real was the threat from anarchism? Explain.

4. Terrorists have left their mark on history. Normally their targets were  political enemies, who were removed from the political stage via the dagger, the pistol, or the bomb. While it is normally acknowledged that developing a distinct personality type common to terrorists is difficult, attempt to give a historical and psychological description of those individuals attracted to terrorism. How has the appeal of terrorism changed throughout history?

5. For well over a hundred years anarchism and the militant left attracted the poor and the economically deprived to terrorism. This traditional model appears to have died with the end of the Cold War. Or has it? Does the recent wave of terrorism fall within this paradigm? Has religious fanaticism replaced the previous model of terrorism, which was common in Europe, North, and South America as late as the 1980s? Explain.