[MUSIC] Hi there, my name is Edwin Bakker and

I'll be your instructor, host. For this course on terrorism and

counterterrorism. And I'm very excited to
start this education and research project together with all of you. And all of y
ou means thousands of people. Thousands have joined this course, and I'm sure it
s going to be a very
interesting experience for all of us. I hope we will learn more about
terrorism and counterterrorism, but also about different ideas and different
experiences regarding these phenomena. Before I will tell you more about this
course, let me tell you who I am and where we're standing right now. I'm profess
or in terrorism
studies at the Institute for Public Administration at
Leiden University in the Netherlands. I'm also the Director for the Center for T
errorism and
Counterterrorism in the city of The Hague. I have a background in political
geography and conflict studies. Having lectured at several Dutch
universities as well as Centers for Professional Learning. Such as NATO Defense
College in Rome,
the Netherlands Defense Academy, Police Institute, and Centers for Training
for judges and diplomats for instance. But before joining Leiden University I
was the Head of the Security and Conflict program. At the Netherlands Institute
of International Relations Netherlands Institute of
International Relations Clingendael. Which is also here in The Hague. And this t
hink tank has close ties
to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As well a wide variety of other national
and international organizations. My research focuses on
security issues in general and terrorism related issues in particular. And it's
very policy oriented,
and that's why I'm very happy to do this kind of work
in the great city of The Hague. The Hague which is, also my hometown, is the loc
ation of
the Dutch government, various ministries. As well as a wide range of
international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and
private actors in the field of security. From the roof of our building, you can
see some of the key
place in our field of study. For instance, over there, the headquarters
of Europol, EU's law enforcement agency. And a little more to the left,
you see the headquarters of the OPCW, the Organization for
the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. And a little bit more to the left,
you see the tower of the Peace Palace. I think, an icon of peace and justice for
more than a century
which was built in 1913. And then, downtown,
you see with the flags,. That is the main building of Leiden
University here in the Hague located dead center next to parliament and
a number of ministries. Ministry of Education which on the roof
also houses the national police, the headquarters of the national police. And th
en on that side,
the red building, which is the Ministry of Home Affairs as well
as the Ministry for Safety and Justice. And for us, very important,
the National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism. Which is one of our
key partners
in discussing terrorism issues and doing research. Then, on the other side of th
e building
you see the, on the Eastern side. You see that white building over there
that's the International Criminal Court. And then, more to the left, behind thes
e
offices, is the suburb of Zoetermeer. Which is home to the Dutch General
Intelligence and Security Service. Well, and then right next to
this building, on this side, you see one of the biggest
courts in the Netherlands. Where there have been a number

of terrorism trials and a number of convictions. And then even closer well that'
s, I'm proud to say is the building
of Leiden University College. Where about 400, 500, 600 students live. Where the
y have both their training and
education and where they enjoy this
great city of the Hague. Having shown a number of relevant
actors in our field of study, let's have a look at the other actors,
the radicals, the extremist of terrorists. Well, unfortunately, this town and it
s surroundings have also been the
location of a number of terrorist attacks. Terrorism related incidences. For ins
tance on the horizon,
you see the nearby town of Rotterdam. Which was the location of probably
one of the first terrorist attacks in the Netherlands on oil installation. Alleg
edly by the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine. And if you walk with me to
the other side of the building,. I can point out a number of embassies. But the
nearest one is the French Embassy,
or what's left of it. They're demolishing it. They're reconstructing it. That wa
s the location of a hostage
taking by the Japanese Red Army. And on the horizon you see that
part of the city, the coast area. At the beach, and
in a house in that part of the city. The President of the Federation
of German Industries, Hanns Martin Schleyer,
was held hostage by the Red Army faction. And, he was taken to another
location later on and eventually, unfortunately, killed. And then, back to the o
ther side
between here and Rotterdam. There's another city Netherlands
is very densely populated. You have a city, it's called Delft. And you see some
of
the parts of the Hague. Where what, what used to be the home
of a number of youngsters that in recent months went to Syria to
fight against the regime of Assad. And they are described as foreign
fighters, jihadi foreign fighters. And that phenomenon which is actually
in this town quite a number of them is one of the number one concerns. Of securi
ty services in the Netherlands
and other parts of Europe. While the rooftop of this building is
a great place to tell you a little bit more about The Hague and all the actors
that are active in this town. But I would now like to explain
a little bit more about the course. So let's go downstairs. Let's go to my offic
e. [SOUND] So now we're in my office inside
the building I was standing on. Explaining what's going on in the Hague, with re
gard to terrorism and
counterterrorism. A better location to tell you a little
bit more about the content and structure of this course. Well, I'm sure you have
a lot
of questions regarding this and I hope to answer at least some of them. In the t
railer I already, showed you some
of the concepts, some of the theories, the studies that we going to look at. And
also, the assumptions that
we're going to explore and discuss. Well, let's give you a little bit more
information how we structured this, how we're going to present
this in the coming weeks. Well, in week 1, we're going to look into
the definition and essence of terrorism. How have academics and governments desc
ribed,
defined the phenomenon of terrorism. And what is it in its essence,
in its core? And then we move on to terrorism and
counterterrorism studies. What have academics and
other experts produced? What do we know? What have they, they, they looked into?
How have they studied terrorism and
counterterrorism in the past decades, and especially the last couple of years? A

nd from this body of literature, we

derive five assumptions on terrorism and five on counterterrorism. And in week 3
, we're going to look
into the assumptions on terrorism. And we're going to compare them
with empirical evidence and different opinions by different
scholars and other experts. And we'll do the same in week 4,
with 5 assumptions on counterterrorism. And in week 5 we look into the on and un
der research topics,
what do we know to little of? Or should be studied. And we also look into corpor
ation
between academics and practitioners. Terrorism studies is very policy oriented.
Also, given the nature of the phenomenon,
people want answers to questions to try to stop this phenomenon or
deal with this phenomenon. And to that end,
we believe that there should be cooperation between academics and
practitioners. Well, how is this working,
where is progress needed? Where is progress possible? That we will discuss toget
her
with something else. The future developments in terrorism. If we want to prevent
future terrorist
attacks, it will be great if we have some idea of where it's moving, how
it's developing, what are the main trends. And we will look into that, and we al
so,
I'll ask your opinion about it. We would like to pick your brains,
and, and, and, and learn from the way you look at
terrorism and counterterrorism. That brings me to Week 6,
where we look into a, a topic, a phenomenon that is very
high on the counterterrorism agenda. And that's the phenomenon of foreign
fighters, also called jihadi fighters, or mujahideen. That fight in other countr
ies in the
Middle-East, especially in Syria and Iraq. Where thousands of young Muslims or
mainly young Muslims have gone to, to, to fight the Assad
regime, to fight other groups. Something that worries many governments
around the globe, many citizens as well. And of course, cause a lot of trouble
in Syria, Iraq and other places. So that's what we'll look
at in week number six. Then how to get a statement of
accomplishment from Coursera. Well you have to do the following. For the basic t
rack you have
to do the weekly quizzes. So every week there's
a number of videos and at the end of these videos
there's the weekly quiz. Well you have to do
these weekly quizzes and the final exam to get a statement of
accomplishment for the basic track. For the advanced track,
you have to do a little bit more. You have to do two additional
peer reviewed assignments. Peer reviewed assignments. While we'll not go into de
tails here,
for more information, have a look a the course syllabus that
you can find on the course dashboard. And finally I would like to inform
you about the signature track, which will give you a verified
certificate from Leiden University. Again, more information you find in the
course syllabus on the course dashboard. A very important, if not crucial, part
of the success of
this course is your active participation. We are confronted with so
many participants around the globe with many different ideas about
terrorism and counterterrorism. We can learn so much from each other. Among the
students are practitioners. People with experience, unfortunately in, in parts o
f the world,
that are often confronted with terrorism. We have also scholars a part
of the participants, then we, we can learn from each other. And from that end,
we added a number of opinion polls and surveys in many of the videos. And we als

o pay a lot of attention, and give the possibility to discuss

with each other in the discussion forum. I think the discussion forum, in fact,
is a very important part of this course. We have to learn from each other. The d
iscussion forum gives
a lot of room for that. Of course,
we have to discuss these issues, sensitive issues,
political issues in a respectful way. To that end, we also invest a lot
in monitoring what's going on, and also in a number of videos. Every week we ref
lect, upon what's
going on in a discussion forum. And we also show you the results,
the outcome, of the question and opinion polls. Well, to make this a very dynami
c and
interactive course we also provide the opportunity to discuss
with other students and also with me. A number of issues
related to terrorism and counter terrorism, by way of
Google hangouts, live video chats. Well, again I'm looking
forward to explore and discuss terrorism and
counter terrorism with you. And I'm also looking forward to
hear what you have to say about it. I hope you'll enjoy the course. I hope you w
ill learn a lot from
the videos, but also from each other. So have fun and see you next week. Every M
onday, we'll upload a video. Starting next Monday.