This course is simply great. I am myself an expert in security studies, but I admit that I have leaned a lot. This course has helped to update my knowledge in my major :International Security. The lecturer is actually a professional who explains things, concepts and phenomena with accuracy. The skills I have acquired with this course will undoubtedly help me in my career as a security expert as I shall soon start my new position as an intelligence analyst with the police.

excelente tema, me gustaría tomar un curso más actualizado por ejemplo un análisis del terrorismo mundial entre el 2018 y el 2019

Excelente curso, diseñado de forma estratégica para envolverte en el tema.

This excellent, balanced course uses a great combination of concise videos and additional reading. I enrolled hoping to better understand this hot-topic and Prof. Bakker's course was perfect.

I highly recommend taking this course, which will allow you to acquire knowledge on the subject of Terrorism.

Great course. Really helpful.

Really interesting course!

Excellent!

Très bien

didn't get my certificate just because i passed the deadline

My opinion about the course is without doubt positive. It is geared to both college-educated people and for those people without previous knowledge course. The course allows different levels of depth; both can be used to acquire general knowledge about terrorism and counterterrorism, to elaborate on specific aspects, because it offers the student a varied and useful bibliography and recommended readings.

As far as the platform is concerned, it is very intuitive and easy to handle, even an online course.

My feeling has been to meet not only the vastness of the subject, the platform can be part of the course and the ability to communicate through forums with students sharing concerns and seek solutions.

It's an easy course to follow although it online because it is well structured and has a good organization.

This does not mean that the course is exceeded without hard work, as the estimated 5/6 hours a week of dedication is pretty accurate.It is not the typical course online almost testimonial. You have to work hard if you want to get a good result.

So maybe it's the most rewarding thing I have done. From what I have learned and by the possibilities I see this field.

It has also been rewarding by Professor Dr. Edwin Baker and his team for their skill and dedication, they have been tremendously didactic. If it were not for them, I would not have been able to finish. And fellow students from all countries, from forums and debates that have exposed enriching opinions. Thanks to all.

When discussed in popular media, terrorism is a topic that is quite sensationalized. In contrast, Professor Bakker offered a very balanced view of terrorism in this course, tackling common perceptions of terrorism and counterterrorism in an organized fashion, and backing up his claims with arguments from both sides as well as hard data collected by scholars in the field.

I also like that the course was kept current with added discussion on Syria. The lectures on Syria were a bit less clear and organized than the previous ones, but then again, hindsight is 20/20, and the Syria conflict is a current event.

By and large, I liked that Professor Bakker did not "preach" his thoughts on terrorism, e.g. making leaps of faith and then expecting us to take unproven assumptions as the basis for a further argument. If I had to make one suggestion on how to improve the course, I would say that the handful of videos by external speakers were not properly contextualized in the course. In particular, I didn't understand why there was a video of a woman from Amnesty International talking about drone strikes and urging political action, since it was not referenced at all by other lectures.

This well-organized course is presented in a series relatively short and focused video segments that are devoted to aspects of its half dozen or so major themes. Professor Bakker's lectures in each of those videos are clear, thorough and deceptively simple. One realizes in retrospect that Bakker has not only smoothly covered major theoretical issues about terrorism but he has also woven considerable historical detail as well as some academic controversy into the overall narrative. An important strength is that Dr. Bakker is careful to promote objectivity as he discusses point after point, but he is not shy about offering his opinion, particularly concerning the many controversial matters that come up. However, he is always entirely candid about his position when he does so, and that candor reinforces the scholarly tenor of the entire course. This is a valuable entry into a subject of great contemporary relevance, confusion, and need for sound policy-making; it will help to enhance one's ability to come to rational judgments about how terrorism can be understood and responded to.

This is a very well balanced course, in that it focuses on many different views on the research of terrorism, from many different platforms, both academic and non-academic, from all parts of the world. Even within the scope of academic, it focuses on the study through the sociology, psychological, political science and many other discipline's lenses.

It also has a wide variety of activities and assessments, such as the essays, discussions, hang out and multiple-choice questions, which sustain the attention and interest of us students.

Another very important plus-point for this course is that it is offered quite frequently, and allows students to suspend 1 session and continue in the following sessions (and the next 3 to 4 sessions are already on display) which allows a very sizeable amount of flexibility and allows us to plan our calendar accordingly.

Flexible, interesting, holistic and updated

This is a really interesting course with current information about the state of terrorism and counterterrorism studies today and with an updated module on ISIS and what is happening in Syria at the moment. The history is an important aspect ,so having finished the course I feel I have a good overview of where we are and where we are coming from with an acknowledgement of the future. I wasn't sure that I would finish since one of the quizzes was so tricky but I got through it and learnt to revise well for the final exam. The videos are very well presented by Dr. Bakker and guests and the essential and supplementary readings very pertinent and enlarging.I wish I still had access to those materials as I didn't read everything I would have liked to but know I can at least refer to Perspectives on Terrorism online whenever I want to for current articles.

Este Curso es una introducción ordenada al tema. Con perspectivas interdisciplinarias. Y otorga a quién lo estudia la posibilidad de profundizar posteriormente de forma individual, el aspecto que más le interese.

Además el profesor Edwin Bakker está interesado por las diversas perspectivas según especialidades de los estudiantes. Lo cual además de interesante para una cuestión tan difícil de definir como es el Terrorismo. Es por mi parte una postura necesaria para entender mejor este fenómeno tan presente meditaticamente para la mayoría y presencial lamentablemente, para otros. Pero que ya se ha convertido en un tema de interés general.

Por mi parte no me quedas más que agradecer a la Universidad de Leiden y al Profesor Bakker por hacer accesible al público en general, un estudio tan importante como este.

El curso es excelente, sin embargo la calificación es desastrosa. Coursera debería crear un sistema distinto de calificaciones para no depender el "buen ánimo" de nuestros compañeros de clase. Tuve inconvenientes con la presentación de mi trabajo escrito dado que no hablo inglés y tuve que recurrir a traductores y a mi poco conocimiento en la escritura del idioma para finalizar mi ensayo. El resultado fue que muchas personas no entendieron bien mi trabajo y me han calificado con la nota más baja. Eso hace que el esfuerzo y el intelecto de personas que no escriben en inglés (pero que si pueden entenderlo), se vea afectado y no sea reconocido. Espero que puedan idear otra forma de evaluación más pertinente y acorde con las necesidades de los estudiantes.

In my opinion, this course is great. I'm doing my MSc in Forensic Psychology and I did this course to learn more about terrorism.

The professor does a very good job at keeping the audience interested and he speaks clearly and slowly enough for everybody to understand.

For a 7 week course, you get tons of information and, most importantly, it is well organized, going through modules in a systematic and thoughful way. Every week you have about 3 or 4 required readings, which will deepen your knowledge about the subjects addressed during the videos.

I would strongly recommend this course to anyone who wants to have someone very knowledgeable guide you through an interesting and current topic. Thumbs up to Coursera as well, everything went perfectly.

I found this course to be a very useful one to refresh already received knowledge as well as to understand how interconnected theory and practice in counter-terrorism are. Therefore, it is not only useful for academics, but for practitioners as well. Being the latter I was able to analyze in a very short time-framework the amount of materials that would take me months to systematize and only then isolate the needed material for analyzing. Kudos to Professor Bakker for a very intensive, yet not boring history of terrorism from anarchists to FTFs (this part of the course is especially appreciated from my side). Recommended to anyone who is interested in learning about this phenomenon.

Excellent work. I am currently pursuing my Masters in Terrorism and Counterterrorism Studies with Henley Putnam University and I wanted to express my gratitude towards the course syllabus, reading materials, and all the wonderful scholarly articles that have enabled me and provided much food for fodder towards my degree program. Thank you, Edwin Bakker, and yes I have purchased your book Terrorism and Counterterrorism Studies - Comparing Theory and Practice on the first day I started this course. A very big thank you to guest lectures like Alex Schmid and others for providing so much insight on the topics of Counterterrorism. Once again, excellent course and excellent instructors.

Bom Dia

sou jornalista do terceiro site mais acessado do Brasil nas redes sócias na categoria geopolítica, o nome do meu site e Assuntos Militares ( www.assuntosmilitares.jor.br ) e minha 6 tentativa de finalizar esse curso, que seria de extrema importância a no meu currículo, mais infelizmente não estou conseguindo, gostaria de deixa registrado

Ricardo Pereira Azevedo

Journalist and Photographer

Site Assuntos Militares (Military Affairs)

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What skills did I learn in this course?

The history of terrorism, its main causes, several terrorist groups that I did not know and several events that have occurred in past decades that I did not know. I also learned a lot of literature and many literary and academic sources that are based on international research and gave me a broader view of terrorism history, myths, policies and trends. On the other hand I was updated in modus operandi of different groups and statistics that helped me to understand the phenomenon.

Excellent course. Many thanks to the teachers, directors, classmates, and all those who have made this course possible. Especially Edwin thanks

I have been very interested in this course since the beginning, and although it has been an additional effort to the language of the language and to have to make it compatible with my working life, I have not thrown the towel and I have put a special effort to finish it. I have learned to approach this problem from a professional perspective thanks to the approach and structure that Professor Bakker has given to this course and has also served me to document extensively as well as to learn to investigate terrorism and counterterrorism. My most sincere congratulations to the professor and to the whole team of the University department.

I really enjoyed and got lots of concrete advantages in taking part in this course, mainly because West Africa where I am living, has been daily targeted by violent extremism ( Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, etc.), and it was great time for me to understand more the origins, consequences and acceptable strategies , plans and measures states, communities and individuals can put in place to reduce the impact of these violent actions on our lives and futures. Huge thanks for have given me chance to access such a wide range of knowledge, skill and practical tips on Terrorism and Counterterrorism. Merci beaucoup!!!

Interesting way of explanations on terrorism, very detailed in such a small amount of time. could be said it has touched some of the essences of studies on the subject and can be considered as an appetizer to go for the large scale studies on the subject.

Missing some deeper root causes and factors causing terror to be extreme but we all know that there is a problem to reach to all material needed for this research - the need for security clearance is not granted to many researchers, and if yes then their research is never published only for government.. eyes so to say.

Thank you very much, nice made videos and added literature.