critical thinking about terrorism and the politics of fear
Order Description
choose ONE of the following themes (use the
questions to guide the organization of your paper, and make sure to define your concepts):
How does something go from being a “regular” political issue to a “security” issue?
What role does fear play in this process?
What does the move of making something into a “security issue” make possible?
What does making something into a “security
issue” foreclose or hide from view?
Use concepts from our readings and class
discussions to ground your analysis. Where possible, use concrete examples.
? The W.O.T. has brought into sharp relief the reality that exceptions to liberty, justice
and democracy are sometimes made in the face of threat or in response to
insecurity.
Who appears to have the power to make these exceptions? And are these
exceptions ever legitimate? If so, under what conditions? If not, why not? Use
concepts from our readings and class discussions to ground your analysis. Where
possible, use concrete examples.
As with the film review, this assignment is meant to be an opportunity to
explore various ideas- including your own musings, and therefore I am fine with use of first
person. However, you must still adhere to general academic writing guidelines, and
the following technical criteria must be met:
? I prefer Chicago/Turabian style with parenthetical references, but as long as you are
consistent, you may use any well-known social science or humanities style guide for
writing.
? The essay must adhere to the assigned number of words. The word count does not
include the bibliography, endnotes or any supporting material such as charts
and tables. The word count for your essay must appear on the title page.
? Your essay is required to have at least 6 substantial sources, which must be
books/edited volumes and/or peer-reviewed journal articles only. Assigned course
readings may be used as sources- please note that book-chapters do not count as a
single source individually, but rather the book that it came from counts as a single
source. This means that if you used, say, 3 chapters from a single book (or edited
volume), that still only counts as 1 source out of the required 6.
? Multi-media (films, documentaries) or web resources (such as blogs, institutional or
governmental websites etc.) can be used if cited properly, but they do not count
towards the 6 required sources.
5
? Wikipedia and other online encyclopaedias can be useful quick-reference tools but
they are not legitimate sources for an essay bibliography.
When marking your essay, the following will be considered. Do not underestimate the
importance of these criteria:
Analytical Content: your work should demonstrates comprehension of the class content, and that presents a related interpretation and critical analysis. (PPT will be
uploaded regarding that) DO NOT simply summarizes or
describes the topic you are writing on. The key here is critical engagement with the
literature and topic, as opposed to repetition of the existing literature or a mere
accounting of events.
Development of an Argument: your work must have a clearly
stated thesis and a set of logically developed and reasonably comprehensive
arguments in support of that thesis.
Grammar, Spelling, and Style: written work that is
grammatically correct and is clearly and accurately written, please make sure that your grammar, spelling isn’t difficult to read or understand due to excessive
grammatical
and/or spelling errors.