Assessment 1: Report (25%)
Assessment one focuses on the first two seminars, 1) war and 2) crime, and is oriented by the first learning outcome. Please review the material this refers you to before proceeding, and ensure you have made an effort to understand the content and what’s expected of you as a student. Please refer to the rubric – in the same folder as this one – to better understand how you’re being assessed. If you do not understand the precise meaning of any of the terms in this instruction, you must seek clarification from instructors, or on your own: google them, look them up. Please ensure you have sought clarification in a timely fashion before you proceed and submit as it is assumed that you understand the instructions.
You must provide a short response (see below) to all four of the following four questions.
- Based on a careful viewing of The Weather Underground, explain what is meant by the phrase ‘bringing the war home’, and very briefly pinpoint what it can it tell us about what motivates terrorism as political action.
- In Phillip Ruddock`s ‘Rule of Law and National Security’ and in Osama bin Laden’s ‘Letter to America’, both people talk about the rightful violent action they’re advocating in relation to law, morality, and the authority of the written word. By reading each holistically and comparing them carefully and critically, offer one important thing you can observe about how terrorism was understood and practiced as war, with reference to law, by these key figures from the first decade of the Global War on Terror?
- Based on a careful viewing of Dirty Wars, identify one of the crimes that may have been committed by US authorities as part of the Global War on Terror. With reference to course material in 1) war and 2) crime, identify why Scahill accords so much importance to Anwar Al-Awlaki, and critically evaluate his fate and significance as crime.
- Based on a careful and complete reading of ‘The Terrorism Delusion: America’s Overwrought Response to September 11’, identify what you regard as Mueller and Stewart’s single strongest contention, take a position on it, and – briefly – critically evaluate US post 9/11 responses to terrorism in light of your position on their contention.
Each response is 200-250 words/5-6 sentences/one paragraph (1000 words, +/-10%). Please address each question in separate response boxes, following the format provided in the template that appears on the following pages.
You must seek to demonstrate that you have done the work and paid attention. All responses must be substantiated using the work the course directs you toward. To say that a response is substantiated means that its claims are defensible, clear and cogent. Avoid glib generalisations, loose rhetoric, assertions without evidence, and attributions of action or causes or agents that do not actually exist (examples of this will be given in seminars).
You are strongly encouraged to make reference to sources from 1) war and 2) crime. You do not have to conduct any additional research, and I discourage you from using sources outside those provided for this assessment. Wherever you do make reference to sources, you must cite[1]. All referencing must be correct, complete and consistent; use Harvard style (google Deakin’s guide to Harvard citation if unsure). Be clear, concise, and specific, and consider context and complexity. You have 10% leeway with the word limit.
Based on a careful viewing of The Weather Underground, explain what is meant by the phrase ‘bringing the war home’, and very briefly pinpoint what it can it tell us about what motivates terrorism as political action.
In Phillip Ruddock`s ‘Tobin Talk’ and in Osama bin Laden’s ‘Letter to America’, both people talk about the rightful violent action they’re advocating in relation to law, morality, and the authority of the written word. By reading each holistically and comparing them carefully and critically, offer one important thing you can observe about how terrorism was understood and practiced as war, with reference to law, by these key actors from the first decade of the Global War on Terror?
Based on a careful viewing of Dirty Wars, identify one of the crimes that may have been committed by US authorities as part of the Global War on Terror. With reference to course material in 1) war and 2) crime, identify why Jeremy Scahill accords so much importance to Anwar Al-Awlaki, and critically evaluate his fate and significance as crime.
Based on a careful and complete reading of ‘The Terrorism Delusion: America’s Overwrought Response to September 11’, identify what you regard as Mueller and Stewart’s single strongest contention, take a position on it, and – briefly – critically evaluate US post 9/11 responses to terrorism in light of your position on their contention.
