Mailing address
Not in Residence
Assaf Moghadam
Research Fellow, International Security Program/Initiative on Religion in International Affairs
Contact:
Telephone: (617) 642-1920
Email: assafm@hotmail.com
Experience
Assaf Moghadam is a research fellow with the International Security Program's Initiative on Religion in International Affairs. He is also Assistant Professor and Senior Associate at the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he directs West Point’s Advanced Terrorism Studies Course and the CTC’s Shia Ideology Program. He is the author of two books on terrorism, The Globalization of Martyrdom: Al Qaeda, Salafi Jihad, and the Diffusion of Suicide Attacks (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008) and The Roots of Terrorism (New York: Chelsea House, 2006).
He was previously a research fellow at the Belfer Center's International Security Program (2004–2006, 2007–2008) and a fellow in national security at the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies (2006–2007) at Harvard University. His research interests are the nature and causes of terrorism and political violence, suicide attacks, Al Qaeda and the global jihad, jihadist ideology, Shia extremism, and the Middle East. He is the editor of a forthcoming book on the global rise of Shia ideology and co-editor of a forthcoming CTC study examining the internal rifts plaguing the global jihad movement.
Assaf has lectured widely on terrorism and other issues before audiences in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. His articles and book reviews have been published in Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Terrorism and Political Violence, the Political Science Quarterly, the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA Journal), the CTC Sentinel, the Boston Globe, and the International Herald Tribune, among other outlets. He serves on the editorial board of Studies in Conflict and Terrorism.
Assaf holds a Ph.D. in international relations and a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD) from The Fletcher School at Tufts University, and a B.A. in political science from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
AP Photo
February 2008
"The Salafi-Jihad as a Religious Ideology"
Journal Article, CTC Sentinel, issue 3, volume 1
By Assaf Moghadam, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Initiative on Religion in International Affairs
"To those who are disoriented by modernity, the Salafi-jihad provides a new sense of self-definition and belonging in the form of a membership to a supranational entity....the United States and its allies should grasp every opportunity to highlight the disastrous consequences that Salafi-jihadist violence has wrought on the everyday lives not only of Westerners, but first and foremost on Muslims themselves....It is a fact that al-Qa`ida and associated groups offer no vision for Muslims other than perennial jihad—hardly an appealing prospect."
May 31, 2006
The Roots of Terrorism
Book
By Assaf Moghadam, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Initiative on Religion in International Affairs
Spring 2006
Book Review: Suicide Bombers: Allah's New Martyrs by Farhad Khosrokhavar
Journal Article, Terrorism and Political Violence, issue 1, volume 18
By Assaf Moghadam, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Initiative on Religion in International Affairs
Spring 2006
Book Review: Making Sense of Suicide Missions by Diego Gambetta, ed
Journal Article, Political Science Quarterly, issue 1, volume 121
By Assaf Moghadam, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Initiative on Religion in International Affairs
November 18, 2005
"The New Martyrs Go Global"
Op-Ed, The Boston Globe
By Assaf Moghadam, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Initiative on Religion in International Affairs
"Some have argued that ending occupation in Iraq and other places is the key to solving the jihadist problem. But we should be disabused of the belief that withdrawal alone will appease the new martyrs. Instead, the countries affected by suicide attacks must step up the battle for the hearts and minds of alienated young Muslims. This war of ideas should expose the hypocrisy of global jihad, but it must also consist of a more sensitive engagement with the Muslim world."
March / April 2005
Book Review: Fatal Future? Transnational Terrorism and the New Global Disorder by Richard M. Pearlstein
Journal Article, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, issue 2, volume 28
By Assaf Moghadam, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Initiative on Religion in International Affairs
