Subject to Change
PLEASE NOTE: THIS DRAFT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE
The Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
University of Michigan
Winter 2010
PUBPOL 763 – Global Issues: Drugs, Crime, and Terrorism (Drugs & Thugs)
Meets: Wednesdays, 4 pm – 7 pm, Weill Hall, Room 1230
_________________________________________________________________________________
Instructor – Ambassador (ret) Melvyn Levitsky, Professor of International Policy and Practice
Weill Hall 3224, e-mail – levitsky@umich.edu
Office Hours – Thursdays – 1-5 PM or by appointment
Graduate Assistant – Justin Marsico – jmarsico@umich.edu
____________________________________________________________________
Course Description
Students will explore the global issues of illegal drugs, international crime and terrorism. Course
content emphasizes the study of organizations and networks, policy formulation and implementation,
national and international approaches and programs, and the international legal and organizational
framework of these issues. The instructor will devote considerable attention to the similarities and
links between the drugs, crime and terrorism phenomena. Students will analyze the conflict between
vigorous pursuit of solutions to the issues and other foreign and public policy objectives and how
they affect the national interests and foreign policies of the nations and organizations involved.
Students will make judgments on current and future developments and assess new lines of action
that national and international policy makers might initiate to find solutions to these problems. The
instructor will place emphasis on the tools and skills needed to produce effective recommendations
for decision making. Case studies, group exercises and simulations will be used throughout the
course and there will be a number of policy writing assignments.
Course Elements
A.
Required Readings
1. Book
a. Inside Terrorism, Bruce Hoffman, Columbia University Press, 2006 (paperback)
2. Cases (all available at in a pack at Dollar Bill Copying, 611 Church Street)
1. The General and the War on Drugs: Barry McCaffrey and the Office of National
Drug Control Policy 2. Arciniega’s War in the Upper Huallaga Valley
3. Colombia; Squeezing a Balloon.
4. A Firm and Commensurate Response -- U.S. Retaliation for the Bush Assassination
Attempt
Drugs & Thugs – Winter 2009
5. American Military Retaliation for Terrorism: Judging the Merits of the 1998 Cruise
Missile Strikes in Afghanistan and Sudan
6. The Extraordinary Rendition Of Abu Omar: Ethics and the War on Terror
3. Readings
All readings, unless otherwise noted, can be found on the CTools site for PubPol 763.
To access the readings, go to the course’s CTools site (http://www.ctools.umich.edu), click
on “763,” click on “Resources,” click on “Reading Assignments/Articles,” and select the
appropriate session. (I also suggest you look at Overhead Slides for the session if
applicable.)
B.
Useful Web Sites
Go to the course’s CTools site (http://www.ctools.umich.edu), click on “763,” click on
“Resources,” and click on “Useful Websites.” You will find a number of interesting and
useful websites you may use for general background and research.
C.
D.
Overheads – Includes articles, graphs, charts and other materials used by the instructor for
class sessions. Go to the CTools site, click on “763,” click on the respective session, click on
“Resources,” and click on “Overheads”
Assignments
[1] Group memorandum and oral presentation on the drug policies of the US, other countries and NGOs.
Students will be divided into groups. Each group will be assigned a topic. (The list of topics, further
guidance and groups are in your Ctools site.) Each group will be required to research the issues and
organize the information into a five-page memorandum and a one-page executive summary sheet. Each
group will make an oral presentation accompanied by visual displays as appropriate, and followed by
discussion with a designated critique group. The due date for all memoranda is Tuesday, March 3. Each
group will be asked to e-mail the executive summary of its paper to the other groups by Monday, March 2.
The groups will present their findings on March 3 and 5.
* Note:
I will need to be in Vienna, Austria from February 2-8 to participate in the work of the
International Narcotics Control Board. (We will have a make-up class on Thursday,
March 5 - date can be further discussed in class.) On Tuesday, February 3 there will be
no formal class, but you are encouraged to meet in your groups in preparation for the
group exercises on March 3 and 5.
[2] Case Memoranda. There are six cases listed above (three in the drugs/crime segment, three in the
terrorism segment). All students will write a one-page policy paper on the first case to be discussed and
then choose three of the next five cases on which to write a paper. (Guidelines are in CTools.)
[3] Students will participate in a classroom simulation on Tuesday, April 14, taking the roles of
U.S. government officials grouped into agencies. In addition to participating in the simulation, each
agency group will write a one-page points paper delineating its agency’s responsibilities and
perspectives. Materials for the simulation will be provided later.
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Drugs & Thugs – Winter 2009
[4] Each student will select a topic for a research/policy paper after consultation with and approval
by the instructor. The paper should cover one or more of the three transnational issues studied –
drugs, crime or terrorism. Topics should be selected and approved by March 13. (The paper should
be between ten and fifteen pages in length. See Ctools for guidelines. The paper will be due at the
beginning of our last class on Tuesday, April 21.
[5] There will be no final examination.
D.
Grading
In grading written and oral presentations, I will base my judgment on the following criteria:





Is your presentation clear, well written and well organized, concise, consistent and of
high quality?
Is your analysis based on important facts or at least on well founded assumptions?
Although I do not expect you to become an expert on every issue, do you show that you
understand its core elements, its background as well as its importance and priority for
decision-makers?
Are your recommendations and/or conclusions based on practicality and common sense
and able to be implemented? Is there a logic chain leading to your conclusion?
I give high value to creativity, original thinking and innovative policy approaches, as
long as they are based on factual, sensible and solid information.
1) Group Memorandum and Presentation
2) Four One-Page Case Papers
3) Research/Policy Paper
4) Class Participation, including the simulation
-
20%
20%
40%
20%
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Session 1
Introduction to Course 1/13/09)
Student and instructor introductions Overview of course
 How Certain Drugs became illegal
 Illegal Drugs: What they are. How they are produced.
 Where to get information on drugs.
 “Seven What’s and a Who” – methods of analysis, use of history, decision makin
Readings: (See Ctools)
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Drugs & Thugs – Winter 2009
Before our first class, I would like students to become familiar with the following websites and papers for
useful background on the drug and crime issues:
A.
“Drugs of Abuse/Uses and Effect” Drug Enforcement Administration
www.dea.gov/pubs/abuse/chart.htm.
Drug Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century (Excerpts)
UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) www.unodc.org
Cocaine and Heroin Production Processes (posted in CTools site)
International Narcotics Control Board (your instructor is one of the thirteen members of the
INCB.), http://www.incb.org/
U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP – The Drug Czar’s Office.),
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov
EMCDDA - European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (European Union)–
http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/
Interpol – www.interpol.net
European Police Organization – http://www.europol.europa.eu
OAS Drug Section – http://www.cicad.oas.org/EN/AboutCICAD.asp
Chart – “How an Issue Becomes a Regime”
Paper – “Seven Whats and a Who.”
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
J.
K.
L.
Session 2
Drugs
(1/20/09)

Trends in Drug Abuse in the U.S. and worldwide

Supply
 Areas of Production: Opium/Heroin, Coca/Cocaine
 Supply Lines – Transit Routes
*NOTE:
Assignments will be made for Drug Policy Group
Presentations.
Readings: See Ctools
Session 3
Drugs and Crime
(1/27/09)
 Transnational Criminal and Drug Trafficking Organizations
 Money Laundering
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Drugs & Thugs – Winter 2009
 Human Trafficking
 Organizing Against Drugs: The U.S. Example
(Case Study on American Drug Czar below)
*NOTE: One-Page Case Paper Due – For ALL Students.
Readings: See CTools
1.
Case Study: “The General and the War on Drugs: Barry McCaffrey and the Office of
National Drug Control Policy” (In Case Book)
FEBRUARY 2, 2009 --- NO CLASS/NO CLASS.
*NOTE 1:
Your instructor will be in Vienna to attend the session of the
International Narcotics Control Board. There will be no class this day, but
you may use this time to get together with members of your drug policy
group to do further planning on your memo and presentation.
*NOTE 2:
There will be a makeup session for this session on Thursday,
March 5. (Date to be confirmed with class.)
Session 4
(2/10/09)
Drugs and Crime -- International Treaty and Organizational Structure, Press Conference
Simulation
 1988 Anti-Trafficking Convention & 2002 Anti Crime Convention
 UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND)
 UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
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Drugs & Thugs – Winter 2009
 International Narcotics Control Board (INCB)
NOTE --- I hope to bring back from the INCB Session in Vienna embargoed
copies of the INCB Annual Report for 2008, along with the Press Kit for the
Press Conference I will hold at the UN in New York at the end of February.
On this basis we will have a simulated Press Conference with students
asking questions and commenting on the Report and with your instructor’s
responses and comments.
Readings: See Ctools Session 4
Recommended Reading:

Excerpts from 1988 Vienna Anti-Trafficking Convention

Excerpts from UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime
Session 5
(2/17/09)
 Supply and Demand
 Drugs and Latin America
 Case Studies on Peru and Colombia
Readings:
1. “Supply and Demand.” 2004 INCB Report, Chapter 1. (Go to www.incb.org, click on “Annual
Report,” click on “2004 Report,” click on “Chapter 1.”)
2. Case Study: “Arciniega’s War in the Upper Huallaga Valley” (In Case Book)
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Drugs & Thugs – Winter 2009
3. Case Study: “Colombia: Squeezing a Balloon” (In Case Book)
4. Declassified State Department Memorandum on the Andean Narcotics Strategy (July 1989).
*NOTE: One-Page Case Papers Due
(for those who chose to write on either or both).
2/24/08 –NO CLASS/NO CLASS
*NOTE: There is no class this week – Spring Break.
SESSION 6
3/3/09
GROUP PRESENTATIONS
(NOTE – ALL GROUP MEMORANDA ARE DUE AT BEGINNING OF
CLASS)
SESSION 7
3/5/09(THURSDAY)
CONTINUATION OF GROUP PRESENTATIONS
SESSION 8 TERRORISM– BEGINNING OF DISCUSSIONS
3/10/09
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Drugs & Thugs – Winter 2009
Panel Discussion: Professors Scott Atran, Robert Axelrod, Melvyn Levitsky
Terrorists and Their Supporters: Who They Are, What
They Think and How To Deal With Them
This Panel Discussion will be open to the University community. Students from this class are expected to
attend and to participate actively in the discussion which follows the formal presentations. Room to be
announced.
Readings:
1. Hoffman: Inside Terrorism, Chapters 1-3.
2. Sageman and Hoffman articles in CTOOLs – Note the readings in Ctools address the issue of
whether Al Qaeda is still a major concern and whether terrorism has turned into an even more
disparate or “leaderless” movement. As you will see, Marc Sageman (along with his close colleague
in research, panelist Scott Atran) and Bruce Hoffman disagree on the nature of terrorism. Be
prepared to raise questions with panelists.
Session 9
Terrorism (3/17/09)
We will continue the discussion of terrorism begun with last week’s panel discussion.
 The Old and the New Terrorism Compared
 Religion and Terrorism
 Dealing with the “old terrorism,” State Terrorism: Response and Retaliation -- Case Study: “A Firm
and Commensurate Response
*NOTE: One-Page Case Memo Due.
Readings:
1.
Hoffman: Inside Terrorism, “Religion and Terrorism.” Chapter 4, pp 81-130.
2.
Other Readings in CTools
3.
Case Study: “A Firm and Commensurate Response; U.S. Retaliation for the Bush
Assassination Attempt.” (In Casebook)
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Drugs & Thugs – Winter 2009
SESSION 10
Terrorism
(3/24/09)
I. Terrorism: The International Dimension
 International Treaties and Conventions
 The UN Role
II. Al Qaeda and 9/11
*NOTE: Assignments will be made and materials distributed for
April 14 simulation.
Readings: All in CTools
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Drugs & Thugs – Winter 2009
Session 11
Terrorism
(3/31/09)
 Response to Embassy Bombings 1998
 The Role of Intelligence – 9/11 and Iraq
 Al Qaeda’s Objectives, Operations and Organization
*NOTE: One-Page Case Memo Due.
Readings:
1. Case Study: American Military Retaliation for Terrorism: Judging the Merits of the 1998
Cruise Missile Strikes in Afghanistan and Sudan. In your Case Book.
2. Other Readings in Ctools.
Suggested Readings:
Chapter 2, 5, 7 and 1 in that order, The 9/11 Commission Report, 2004. http://www.911commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf)
Session 12
(4/7/09)
 The Nexus – Drugs, Crime and Terrorism
 Combating Terrorism – Beginning Discussion
 Rendition as a Tool
Note: One-Page Case Study Paper Due for those who have submitted four case papers.
Readings:
Hoffman – Inside Terrorism – Chapter 9, pp 257-295
Case Study – The Extraordinary Rendition of Abu Omar: Ethics and the War on Terror.
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Drugs & Thugs – Winter 2009
Rest of Readings in CTools
Session 13
(4/14/09)
 Bio-Terrorism Exercise
Readings:
You were given material and assigned a role for this exercise on March 20.
Session 14
(4/21/09)
*NOTE:
Research/Policy Papers Due
 Wrap Up Session
 Readings and Subjects for Discussion to be Determined
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