This course situates the study of terrorism as a tactic of insurgency in the media age, explains why a cleric in Yemen has global influence, and why the United States and its allies are engaged in a global counter-insurgency operation, also known as fourth generation warfare. Drawing on general security studies frameworks, it allows students to understand the evolution of terrorist tactics and how they compare to or combine with other forms of political violence. For example, is ISIS a terrorist group, a guerrilla insurgency, or a government? Did it emerge as a key group because of state weakness in Syria and Iraq, because they are skilled tacticians in kinetic warfare, or because of the effectiveness of their communications and recruitment strategies? Understanding terrorism and insurgency as a political process allows one to evaluate the full panoply of causes of terrorism, as well as the variety of policies that need to be in place to counter it—ranging from intelligence gathering and the prevention of radicalization, to kinetic force, to state-building and international coalition building.