Phares, Walid 1957–

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Phares, Walid 1957–

PERSONAL:

Born 1957, in Lebanon; immigrated to the United States, 1990. Education: Earned degrees from Saint Joseph University and the Lebanese University in Beirut; Université de Lyons, master's degree; University of Miami, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Fox News Channel, Middle East correspondent; Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Washington, DC, senior fellow; European Foundation for Democracy, Brussels, Belgium, senior fellow; National Defense University School for National Security Executive Education (SNSEE), Washington, DC, visiting professor, 2007. Previously worked as a lawyer in Beirut, Lebanon; as the publisher of several multilingual periodicals, 1982-87; for MSNBC, terrorism analyst; Florida International University, Miami, lecturer; University of Miami, Miami, lecturer; Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, professor of Middle East Studies, 1993-2006.

WRITINGS:

Lebanese Christian Nationalism: The Rise and Fall of an Ethnic Resistance, L. Rienner (Boulder, CO), 1995.

Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies against America, Palgrave Macmillan (New York, NY), 2005.

The War of Ideas: Jihadism against Democracy, Palgrave Macmillan (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor to periodicals, including Global Affairs, Middle East Quarterly, International Journal of Security Studies, Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Philadelphia Inquirer, National Review, and the Chicago Sun-Times.

SIDELIGHTS:

Walid Phares was born and raised in Lebanon, and received his education there as well as in Lyons, France, and Miami, Florida, eventually earning a Ph.D. in international relations and strategic studies. An expert on the Middle East, Phares has worked as a foreign correspondent in that region for the Fox News Channel. He has also served as a professor and a fellow for several defense organizations in Washington, DC. Phares is the author of several books on the Middle East and the dynamic tension between that part of the world and the United States. Lebanese Christian Nationalism: The Rise and Fall of an Ethnic Resistance addresses the roots of Christianity in Lebanese history.

Phares's next book, Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies against America, published several years following the terrorist attacks of September 11th, has a somewhat broader scope, and offers readers a brief history of the concept of the jihad, from its roots in Islamic beliefs to its more current use in the global political arena. Phares explains how the jihad is being applied today, and why Western economic and political ideology make Western nations a target for such religious-minded types of terrorist acts. Dave Martin, reviewing on the Bookbag, remarked of Phares's effort: "As a learning experience, this is an invaluable resource for someone … who knows little about the religious or political motivations of Al-Qaeda and their followers."

In The War of Ideas: Jihadism against Democracy, Phares continues his explanation of the motivations driving Muslim terrorists who believe in the call for a war against those who do not share their religious beliefs. A contributor for Kirkus Reviews called the book "provocative reading."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice, March, 1996, A.R. Norton, review of Lebanese Christian Nationalism: The Rise and Fall of an Ethnic Resistance, p. 1215.

International Wire, May 26, 2004, "Analysis with Walid Phares"; June 22, 2004, "Interview with Florida Atlantic University's Walid Phares"; January 30, 2005, "Interview with Mideast Politics Professor Walid Phares."

Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2006, review of The War of Ideas: Jihadism against Democracy, p. 1260.

Officer, February, 2007, Will Holahan, "The Even Longer War," p. 43.

U.S. Newswire, June 24, 2003, "Walid Phares, Lebanese Professor of Middle East Studies, Ethnic and Religious Conflict, to Discuss ‘Jihad against America,’" p. 1008175.