CI Centre Professor Walid Phares is a Senior Fellow and the director for Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington (2001-2007). He is also a Visiting Fellow with the European Foundation for Democracies in Brussels (2006-2007). He has been a Professor of Middle East Studies, Ethnic and Religious Conflict at the Department of Political Science at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) from 1993 to 2006. He is a senior lecturer on the War on Terror at the LLS Program of FAU.

Dr Phares lectures on US campuses, nationwide, and internationally including in London, Stockholm, Brussels, Strasbourg, Mexico, Geneva, Paris, Lisbon, Sao Paolo, Montreal, Rome, Madrid, Nicosia and Beirut. He published several books and articles including in the Middle East Quarterly, Global Affairs, Journal of Middle East and South Asian Studies, Journal of International Security Affairs, Journal of Intelligence and Counter Intelligence, Homeland Security Today, and other specialized journals. He has been interviewed by national networks including CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC, PBS, Discovery Channel, C-Span, BBC, Sky News, CTV, CBC, Global TV, al Jazeera, al Hurra, Abu Dhabi TV, al Arabiya as well as local ABC, CBS, PBS, NBC and others. He appears on European, Arab, South Asian and Latin American outlets and is a frequent contributor to US and international radio programs.

Dr Phares field covers comparative politics, conflict analysis, and policy planning. His current research interest focuses on the Jihadist movements and strategies worldwide, Arab-Israeli Conflict, Human Rights under Islamist regimes, ethnic minorities, women, and democratic processes within the Greater Middle East and the Muslim world, Terrorism, as well as the international relations of Civilizations.

He has served as an analyst of the ongoing world conflicts, including the War on Terrorism and the War of Ideas since September 11, 2001 with regards to al Qaida and Hezbollah's ideologies and strategies, regional and local Jihadic groups, as well as Islamist strategies within the West. Dr Phares analyses the surge and development of those movements within the West, as well as in other regions including the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

He testifies to and conducts briefings at the US Congress, the European Parliament and the UN Security Council, as well as to US State Department and other foreign ministries worldwide and to officials on Terrorism, Conflict and Ethnic Coexistence.

Dr Phares also lectures to and advise the Departments of Justice, Defense, and Homeland Security on academic research on Terrorism.

Dr Phares serves as an academic advisor to several Human Rights and minority groups. He has served as an expert on Fundamentalism with the US Government.

He has served as a Terrorism analyst and Mideast expert with NBC between 2003 and 2006 and he is now a Contributor to Fox News.

His book with Palgrave St Martin, Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies against America, published in November 2005 was a Foreign Affairs best seller in 2006. The paperback Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies against the West was published in November 2006. Dr Phares book, The War of Ideas: Jihadism against Democracy was published in March 2007. His most recent book, The Confrontation: Winning the War against Future Jihad, was published in March 2008.

Born and raised in Lebanon, Dr Walid Phares was educated at the Jesuit and Lebanese Universities of Beirut where he obtained degrees in Law and Political Science as well as a certificate in Sociology. He obtained a Masters in International Law from the Universite de Lyons in France and a Ph.D. in International Relations and Strategic Studies from the University of Miami.

He practiced as a Lawyer in Beirut, served as an analyst editorialist and was the publisher of several weeklies and monthlies in Arabic, French and English (1982-1987).

He published his celebrated book, al Taadudiya fi Lubnan (Pluralism in Lebanon in Arabic) on the Clash of Identities and Civilizations in Lebanon in 1979, followed by a number of books and articles in the Arab and international press since 1980. He engaged in public discussions with Islamic Fundamentalist and Arab Nationalist intellectuals in the 1980s out of Beirut. He lectured in a number of countries in the Middle East and worldwide (France, Belgium, UK, Switzerland, Brazil, Uruguay, Cyprus and Canada).

Relocated to the United States in 1990, he taught at Florida International University, the University of Miami, then was hired by Florida Atlantic University in 1993. Professor Phares teaches Middle East Politics and History, Ethnic and Religious Conflict, the Politics of Civilizations, Islamic Fundamentalism, Human Rights, Nationalism.

Call the CI Centre at 1-800-779-4007 or 703-642-7453 or fill out this form to book Dr. Walid Phares as a speaker.

BOOKS by Dr. Phares:

The CI Centre HIGHLY RECOMMENDS these books as required reading:

NEW:

The War of Ideas: Jihadism against Democracy

Required reading for senior managers to understand the game plan, goals and denial & deception of Jihadism against the US.

     From Afghanistan and Iraq to Europe and the United States we are engaged in one of the most heated wars of all time. In this incisive new book, the man that has been called--the only one to understand the mind of the jihadist--shows that the most important battle is actually taking place in the hearts and minds of the world's population. This is the war of ideas, where ideology is the most powerful weapon of all. Phares explores the beliefs of two opposing camps, one standing for democracy and human rights, and the other rejecting the idea of an international community and calling for jihad against the West. He reveals the strategies of both sides, explaining that new technologies and the growing media savvy of the jihadists have raised the stakes in the conflict. And most urgently, he warns that the West is in danger of losing the war, for whereas debate and theorizing rarely translate into action here, ideas and deeds are inextricably linked for the forces of jihad.