Robert G. Rabil

Robert G. Rabil
Board member of Academic advisor at the World Lebanese Cultural Union and American Lebanese Coalition; board member of the Iraq Institute for Strategic Studies
Academic background
Alma mater Brandeis University
Academic work
Discipline Political Science

Dr. Robert G. Rabil is a professor of political science at Florida Atlantic University. He completed his undergraduate studies in Computer Science at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and his doctorate in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University. His area of studies and expertise include Political Islam, Transnational and Revivalist movements, Salafism, US-Arab Relations, Arab-Israeli Conflict, Terrorism and Contemporary Middle Eastern and Southeastern politics.[1]

Rabil served as the Chief of Emergency for the Red Cross in Baabda district, Beirut during Lebanese Civil War, and was project manager of the Iraq Research and Documentation Project. He has had numerous speaking engagements at universities including Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Brandeis, and has made several media appearances.[2] Rabil was awarded the LLS Distinguished Professorship in Current Events, and in May 2012 was conferred an honorary Doctorate in Humanities from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Books

Year Book Publisher
2004 Embattled Neighbors: Syria, Israel, and Lebanon[3][4] Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.
2006 Syria, the United States, and the War on Terror in the Middle East [5] Praeger Publishers
2011 Religion, National Identity, and Confessional Politics in Lebanon: The Challenge of Islamism[6] Palgrave US
2014 Salafism in Lebanon: From Apoliticism to Transnational Jihadism[7] Georgetown University Press
2016 The Syrian Refugee Crisis in Lebanon: The Double Tragedy of Refugees and Impacted Host Communities Lexington Books.[8]

Views

Rabil has written that the war against Islamist extremism is a war against a triumphalist religious ideology that cloaks itself in the sanctity of the sacred and the history of authentic Islam. Rabil argues that authoritarian or totalitarian Muslim rulers have rarely challenge this triumphalist ideology, for fear of being further delegitimized as impious Muslims. He goes on to say that "the problem for the West in its relationship with a large part of the Muslim world is that this triumphalist religious ideology is more or less left unchallenged by Muslim rulers".[9]

Critical Reception

Benedetta Berti described Rabil's Religion, National Identity, and Confessional Politics in Lebanon as an "in-depth historical contextualization of the rise of Islamism in Lebanon". The book makes use of existing research as well as Arabic language primary sources (including Hizbullah's 2009 "Manifesto").[10] Fred H. Lawson writes that Rabil's analysis of Syria's refusal to make peace is "uncompelling". (Rabil writes "the premium an Arab, especially an Alawi Arab of peasant origins such as Asad, would put on the issue of 'dignity', the dignity of retrieving in full what was lost in defeat.)[11] Joshua Sinai called Salafism in Lebanon a "detailed and authoriative account of Salafism as an important player in Lebanon's Sunni confessional community".[12]

Affiliations

  • Affiliate in Research, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1999–present.
  • Member of the Board of Directors, Iraq Institute for Strategic Studies, Inc., Beirut, Baghdad, London, Washington, DC, 2004–present.
  • Advisory Board, Florida Society for Middle East Studies, Boca Raton, Florida, 2004–present.
  • Adjunct Scholar, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Washington, DC, 2005-2009.
  • Academic Adviser, American Lebanese Coalition and World Lebanese Cultural Union, 2003–present.
  • Academic Adviser, Central Naval Analysis,2006–present.
  • Academic Adviser, Middle East and National Security Organization, an FAU student club which promotes awareness of Middle East and US national security issues.

References

  1. ↑ "Dr. Robert Rabil". Retrieved 2018-06-26.
  2. ↑ "OUR EXPERTS: OUTSIDE AUTHORS". The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Archived from the original on 12 January 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
  3. ↑ "Outstanding Academic Titles". American Library Association. Archived from the original on 12 August 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  4. ↑ Zisser, Eyal (2005). "Embattled Neighbors--Syria, Israel and Lebanon (review)". Shofar: an Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies. 23 (3): 202. Archived from the original on 3 June 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  5. ↑ Wieland, Carsten (2007). "Book Review". The Middle East Quarterly. 14 (1): 813. Archived from the original on 14 February 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  6. ↑ Berti, Benedetta (2013). "Bustan: The Middle East Book Review". Penn State University Press. 4 (1): 85–88. doi:10.1163/18785328-13040108. JSTOR 10.1163/18785328-13040108?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents.
  7. ↑ Alagha, Joseph (14 July 2015). "Salafism in Lebanon: from apoliticism to transnational jihadism". Cambridge Review of International Affairs. 28 (3): 506. doi:10.1080/09557571.2015.1058066.
  8. ↑ Zisser, Eyal, "The Syrian Refugee Crisis in Lebanon," (Book Review) Middle Eastern Studies, May 29, 2017. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00263206.2017.1331434?needAccess=true&journalCode=fmes20
  9. ↑ Rabil, Robert (May 25, 2016). "Profiling Muslims Is Bad. So Is Ignoring Radical Islam". The National Interest. Archived from the original on 1 August 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  10. ↑ Berti, Benedetta (2013-01-01). "Robert G. Rabil, Religion, National Identity, and Confessional Politics in Lebanon: The Challenge of Islamism (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), 230 pp. ISBN 978-0-230-11654-2". Bustan: the Middle East Book Review. 4 (1): 85–88. doi:10.1163/18785328-13040108. Archived from the original on 2018-06-03. Retrieved 2018-06-26.
  11. ↑ Fred H. Lawson (2005). "Review Reviewed Work(s): Embattled Neighbors: Syria, Israel and Lebanon by Robert G. Rabil". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 37 (2): 277–. JSTOR 3879739.
  12. ↑ Joshua Sinai - 2016 - Review Reviewed Work(s) Salafism in Lebanon From.pdf (PDF), retrieved 2018-06-26
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.