Robert Rabil, Ph.D.

Robert Rabil received his Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, his Masters in Government from Harvard University Extension School and his Ph.D. in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University. His area of research includes Political Islam, Terrorism, Transnational and Revivalist Movements, U.S.-Arab Relations, Arab-Israeli Conflict, Reform in the Arab world, and Contemporary Middle Eastern and Southeastern Politics.

He is the author of Embattled Neighbors: Syria, Israel, and Lebanon (Lynne Rienner, 2003), Syria, the United States, and the War on Terror in the Middle East (Praeger, 2006), Religion, National Identity and Confessional Politics in Lebanon: The Challenge of Islamism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), Salafism in Lebanon: from Apoliticism to Transnational Jihadism (Georgetown University Press, 2014), The Syrian Refugee Crisis in Lebanon: The Double Tragedy of Refugees and Impacted Host Communities (Lexington Books, 2016), and White Heart (London: Austin Macauley Publishers, 2018) . His articles have appeared in major newspapers and academic journals, including the Wall Street Journal, Chicago-Sun Times, Daily Star (Beirut), History News Network, National Interest, CNN, Middle East Journal, Middle East Policy, the Journal of International Security Affairs, Middle East Quarterly, and Middle East Review of International Affairs. He also contributed a number of book chapters on Political Islam and Middle Eastern Politics.

Rabil is currently undertaking multiple research projects on U.S. National Security and Arab Revolts; Arab Revolts and Christians in the Middle East; and Salafism.

Previously, Rabil served as the chief of emergency for the Red Cross in Beirut, Lebanon, taught at Suffolk University, and was the project manager of the U.S. State Department funded-Iraq Research and Documentation Project.