At the invitation of the Department of Political Science and the Program of Middle East Studies at Fordham University in New York, Professor Walid Phares, author of the book Future Jihad presented a lecture on "Future Jihad: Can it be avoided?"
Dr Phares, a senior fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington and a professor of Comparative Politics was introduced by Professor John Entelis, Fordham Middle East Studies director. The lecture was well attended by students and faculty on campus.
Phares introduced his new paperback Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies against the West, published by Palgrave, which is being released this week in the United States. Phares said "the most challenging issue in the War on Terror today is to understand the global nature of the Jihadi movement and the strategic objectives of its adherents." Reviewing the historical development of the Jihadists, both Salafis and Khumeinsts in the 20th century, Phares described the movement as capable for long term thinking process. "The Jihadists are not a reaction to US Foreign policy as many in academic described them since the 1990s. These movements have survived WWII, the Cold War and the 1990s, so that they will have their own time in world politics."
Phares summarized his thesis on the "road to 9/11" and described his projection of Jihadism into the end of this decade. "In the international version of Future Jihad, I cover more areas of interests to the Jihadists such as Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Asia. I try to show how global the ideology and main strategies are." Phares will be lecturing on campuses to introduce his new book and interact with students and faculty.
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