Psychology of Terrorism Final

Answer each question in a minimum 300 words , completely and fully for full credit. Source credits and the required Reference list attached at the end of each answer do no count toward its word length.  Answers are to be based on the course textbook and outside academic sources (excluding other course textbooks, encyclopedias such as Encarte and Wikipedia, About.com and Ask.com type websites that synthesize source information for users, magazines, news websites, blogs, etc.).

Essay answers must be more than 3 or 4 brief sentences, but kept within the bounds of a short-answer essay exam (i.e., 2-3 paragraphs). All your writing must be in your own words. Paraphrase (restate what you read) rather than copying material from the course textbook or the Internet.  No copying is permitted in this course and doing so will result in zero points on the exam. Answers must be written in narrative, paragraph form.  Lists and/or sentence fragments also will not receive points.

1. How does the organizational and managerial structure of a terrorist organization compare to that of traditional organizations in society? Compare and contrast the attraction, selection, and retention of members of a terrorist organization to those of traditional, non-terrorist organizations. What are the most significant variances in organizational operations?

2. Discuss the controversy of viewing actors of terrorist behavior from a mental health perspective. Identify the most compelling arguments in support of this mental health approach to actors of violent terrorist behavior. In addition, share the most significant rejections of the approach. Select a position, identifying the rationale for the selection.

3. Discuss the concept of cultural jihad, the presence of AQAM (Al Qaeda and Associated Movements), and the express goal of these groups. Identify an example of cultural jihad you see as having the greatest effect in meeting the goals of the terrorist groups.

4. If identifying the most important aspect in understanding the psychology of terrorism, what would you identify? Provide a brief explanation for your response.

5. Discuss the most severe misconception in understanding terrorism and terrorist behavior based upon what you have learned over the past eight weeks.

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