Prof Steffen Hertog

This course is available on the MSc in Political Science (Conflict Studies and Comparative Politics). This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process. For information on controlled access courses, including eligibility, application processes, deadlines, and departmental contact details, please refer to the Controlled Access Courses webpage.

Preference will be given to students on the MSc in Political Science (Conflict Studies and Comparative Politics).

How to apply: to apply for a place on this course, please write a short statement of 200 words (max) outlining the specific reasons for applying and how the course will benefit your academic/career goals. Priority will be given to students on the programmes listed in the ‘availability’ section of the course guide. You should check that you meet any pre-requisites in the course guide before applying (where applicable). Places on capped courses cannot be guaranteed.  

Deadline for application: The deadline for applications is 12:00 noon on Friday 25 September 2026. You can expect to be informed of the outcome of your application by 12:00 noon on Monday 28 September 2026. Any places remaining after this date will be allocated based on priority and written statement - up until course selection closes.

For queries contact: gov.msc@lse.ac.uk.

Preference will be given to students on the MSc in Political Science (Conflict Studies and Comparative Politics).

The course will analyse the phenomenon of terrorism from a social scientific perspective, drawing on theories from political science, economics, sociology, and social psychology. It will start with a review of (sometimes contentious) definitions of terrorism and provide an overview of historical varieties of the phenomenon, defined for the purposes of the course as highly asymmetric, non-state political violence outside of wartime contexts. It will then review various theories explaining the origin of terrorist mobilization and the evidence and research designs supporting them. We will specifically discuss theories focusing on individual-level economic factors, social psychology and identity factors, social network processes, and country-level political and economic factors. The course will assess to which extent terrorist movements with different ideological backgrounds are substantially different and will investigate Islamist terrorism in the West as an in-depth case study. It will analyse what influences the “quality” of terrorism in terms of skill levels of operatives and the impact of terrorist operations, followed by a review of literature of who among wider populations is sympathetic to terrorist movements and why. It will close with a discussion of the challenges we face in explaining terrorism as opposed to other forms of political behaviour.

30 hours of seminars in the Winter Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.

Essay (1500 words).

Essay to be submitted in Week 7.

Diego Gambetta and Steffen Hertog, Engineers of Jihad: The Curious Connection between Violent Extremism and Education (Princeton UP 2017)

Alan Krueger, What Makes a Terrorist: Economics and the Roots of Terrorism (Princeton UP 2007)

Jeff Victoroff, The Mind of the Terrorist: A Review and Critique of Psychological Approaches (JOCR 2005)

Graeme Wood, The Way of the Strangers: Encounters With the Islamic State (Random House 2017)

Course participation (20%).

Essay (80%, 3500 words) in Spring Term Week 1.

Essay to be submitted after the end of term.