These papers are meant to help you integrate the readings, lecture material, Carmen resources, and your own thoughts in written form. It is important for your paper to answer the assigned question (by stating your argument in some kind of introductory paragraph and then developing this argument in the body of your essay) and to make extensive use of the relevant assigned readings and lectures though paraphrase or quotation. However, given these conditions, and given that your spelling and grammar are correct and your language use is not too colloquial, you have some stylistic liberty. When citing the readings, a simple parenthetical reference (Author, page #) is sufficient. Please do not incorporate sources that have not been assigned for this class; you should have plenty of material to draw from already. I will be grading these papers based on your familiarity with the readings (good understanding vs. superficial skim), your ability to relate them to broader ideas we discuss in class, and the logic and clarity of your arguments. As noted in the syllabus, these papers are due in class on the assigned day and are meant to prepare you for that day’s lecture and discussion. You must therefore be present to hand in the paper; if you are not you will incur a 5% penalty on your grade for that particular assignment. You must complete five of the seven topics. Late papers will be penalized one letter grade per day late they are submitted, up to a maximum deduction of two letter grades. Please plan your schedule accordingly so that you may be able to complete and submit the assignments on time.
This paper asks you to continue thinking about our overall theme of why and how terrorist campaigns are ended, but to apply it specifically to our three most recent case studies: two radical leftist groups, the Weather Underground and the West German Red Army Factions, and the far right Covenant, Sword, and Arm of the Lord and its spin-off groups. You must use the chapters from the Reich book on the WU and RAF, Varon’s chapter on the RAF, the film on the WU, the chapter from Stern on right wing extremists, Kerry Noble’s “Declare War” and Perliger’s short piece on right wing violence. Your basic question is as follows: Why did terrorist groups of the radical right and left fail to such an extent that analysts have described them as “imploding?” Do you think that this failure can be attributed more to mistakes made by the organizations themselves—errors in operations or targets—or by a lack of popular support? That is to say, could any of these groups have succeeded if they were more competent, or were their goals simply too unpopular to achieve mass support? You should consider several ideas we have already covered in order to reach your conclusion—for example, were these groups driven more by psychology, as Post suggests, by secondary motivations, or clear political goals? What do these groups illustrate about the prospects of using violence to mobilize people in a democracy?
Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.
[order_calculator]