This course is a small, discussion driven research seminar that will allow students to investigate political extremism and organized violence in all of their manifestations, from organized criminal networks to terrorism and insurgency.  The course has three purposes:

1. To help students understand criminal and political violence in a common analytical framework so that they may compare and contrast these forms of organized violence.
2. Allow students to identify a topic of interest within the realm of organized violence and to develop an independent research project to investigate this topic more fully.
3. Address different ways of doing research; accordingly students will be expected to choose not only a subject but also a methodology for framing and addressing the topic.

By the end of the course students will be carrying out primary source research on their subject and will be expected to understand the extent of existing scholarly research on the subject in order to identify gaps in our understanding.  Students will be expected to produce a draft of a research paper that has the potential to be expanded into a much larger project such as a senior honors' thesis.

Prerequisites: Sophomore standing or higher, or permission of instructor.