The objective of the APSA Task Force on Political Violence and Terrorism is to assess the contribution of political science to the understanding of how trends in civil violence affect domestic and international political order and to share findings with the public. From APSA President Margaret Levi:

With the goal of enriching public understanding of the political violence and terrorism that so threaten national security, the American Political Science Association has constituted a Task Force on Political Violence and Terrorism, chaired by Professor Martha Crenshaw, Stanford University.  As with the earlier APSA Public Presence Task Forces, there are two primary and interdependent aims of this task force:  first, to clarify what political scientists know on the subject; and, second, to covey this knowledge in a way that makes it accessible  and useful to the media, policy-makers, an informed public (including our own members who are not specialists in the given area), and students.  By making our expertise relevant to the debate, we hope to help raise the quality of public discourse.
Read more >>

Welcome from David Laitin, Professor of Political Science, Stanford University,
Task Force member and chair of public outreach:

Welcome to the public outreach web page of the Task Force on Political Violence and Terrorism.   The goal of this web site is to make research in political science on political violence available to students, teachers, journalists, and public servants.

We have now posted a range of syllabi for political science courses that deal with political violence and terrorism. We have chosen several of these as exemplary for the public, and we have organized the readings from all the syllabi into a general bibliography. These syllabi and accompanying teaching modules are useful for all levels, from secondary schools to graduate and professional courses. It should also serve for Model UN and other extra-curricular clubs.

In the future we intend to provide Task Force reports that summarize the latest political science knowledge on political violence and terrorism. We also plan to conduct interviews with leading experts from the political science community that can be downloaded. Finally, we hope to construct a file of leading experts on related topics, with their contact information, so that their expertise can be tapped beyond their home universities.

Resources
(links to be added as the items are developed)

• Teaching Courses on Political Violence: Bibliography, Syllabi, etc. 
• Datasets
• Interviews
• Experts

Draft Task Force Reports

• "How Political Violence Ends: Paths to Conflict Deescalation and Termination"  
• "Consolidating Peace and Mitigating Conflict in the Aftermath of Violence"
  
  

Task Force Members

• Martha Crenshaw
  Stanford University, Chair
• Robert H. Bates
  Harvard University
• Jeannine Bell
  Indiana University
• Christian Davenport
  University of Maryland
• Donatella Della Porta
  European University Institute
• Fen Hampson
  Carleton University
• Stathis N. Kalyvas
  Yale University
• David D. Laitin
  Stanford University
• Margaret Levi, APSA President
  University of Washington, Seattle
• Jack S. Levy
  Rutgers University
• T. David Mason
  University of North Texas
• Cynthia McClintock
  George Washington University
• Marc Ross
  Bryn Mawr College
• Ignacio Sanchez-Cuenca
  Juan March Institute - Madrid
• Joanna Vecchiarelli Scott
  Eastern Michigan University
• Barbara F. Walter
  University of California - San Diego
• Elisabeth Jean Wood
  Yale University

Questions & Comments
Your suggestions for additional materials are encouraged. Please contact Robert Hauck, APSA Deputy Director and Liaison to this Task Force, to share your ideas or for additional information about this Task Force.

Task Force Operations and Acknowledgements
APSA is contributing $10,000/year for the two-year term of the Task Force. Martha Crenshaw has secured a generous grant from the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation.