Sean K. Anderson

Biography

While at ISU Anderson has taught Introduction to U.S. Government, Introduction to Politics, Introduction to Comparative Politics, the Politics of Developing Nations, the Politics of Order and Change, Introduction to the Administrative Process, the Politics of the Middle East, a graduate interdisciplinary seminar on Resurgence Movements, and a senior seminar on Religion and Politics. He has taught a special topics course on Terrorism and Political Violence through the Distance Learning Center. This course became the POLS 4434/5534 Terrorism and Political Violence class that has been regularly offered since the 9/11 attacks. He has also recently taught a special topics course on Torture: Law and Politics. He has conducted quantitative studies of the relationship between state-sponsored terrorism and the warnings and indications present in the state-run mass media, as well as of the impact of U.S. military interventions on the behavior of state sponsors of terrorism. Professor Anderson has written an entry on al Qa'eda for the Routledge International Encyclopedia of International Relations and Global Politics. His research papers on Iranian state-sponsorship of terrorism and on the impacts of U.S. military intervention against state sponsors have been reprinted in anthologies of terrorism research. With regard to domestic politics Dr. Anderson has researched the relative contributions of changes in the socio-economic environment and political culture of Idahoans in explaining changes in voting behavior. Anderson participated in the Terrorism and Beyond: The 21st Century conference which inaugurated the Oklahoma City National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism hosted by the RAND Corporation. Most recently Dr. Anderson was invited to be the keynote speaker of the Pacific Asia Special Operations Command conference held May 5-7, 2015 in which he presented the topic "Why ISIS May Be Overrated As a Long-Term Threat" which will be printed this August 2016 in Vol. 41 No. 2 of the Asia-Pacific Defense Forum Section on Counterterrorism.

Research Interest

Dr. Anderson's research interests include domestic and international terrorism and extremist movements, political culture, the impact of religion on domestic and international politics and the Islamic Resurgence in the Middle East. Dr. Anderson co-authored the book The Historical Dictionary of Terrorism with Professor Stephen Sloan, which has been published in a number of different editions.