Robert G. Rabil

Robert G. Rabil

Dr. Robert G. Rabil is a professor of political science at Florida Atlantic University. He received his doctorate in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University. His area of studies and expertise include Political/Radical Islam, Transnational and Revivalist movements, Salafism, US-Arab Relations, Arab-Israeli Conflict, Terrorism and Contemporary Middle East Politics in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Israel, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia. He is an internationally renowned and acclaimed scholar. His books have been highly commended and reviewed by major academic journals in the U.S., U.K., Arab world, Australia, Israel and Iran.

Dr. Rabil served as the Chief of Emergency for the Red Cross in Baabda district, Beirut during Lebanon's civil war, and was project manager of the U.S. State Department funded Iraq Research and Documentation project. Dr. Rabil was awarded the LLS Distinguished Professorship in Current Events, the Excellence in Teaching Award and in May 2012 was conferred an honorary Doctorate in Humanities from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Dr. Rabil’s frequent speaking engagements include appearances at major universities such as Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Brandeis University, Case Western Reserve, and the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. He participates in round table discussions and forums sponsored by the U.S. Government, including the U.S. Army and National Intelligence Council. He appears on media outlets such as ABC, CBS, BBC, FOX, MSNBC and C-SPAN.

Books

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

Embattled Neighbors: Syria, Israel, and Lebanon

Winner of the Choice Award for Outstanding Academic Title Award 2003 Embattled Neighbors deals with the fabric of relations between Israel, Syria, and Lebanon, .

Syria, the United States, and the War on Terror in the Middle East

The book sketches the most important developments in the Levant and its surroundings from the middle of the 20th century up to today. Thus the book also deals with Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. Nevertheless,

Religion, National Identity, and Confessional Politics in Lebanon: The Challenge of Islamism

This book looks at Lebanon against a background of weak and contested national identity and capricious interaction between religious affiliation and confessional politics, and attempts to illustrate in detailed analysis this "comprehensive" project of Islamism according to its ideological and practical evolutionary change. The author demonstrates that Islamism, in both its Sunni and Shi'a variants, has maintained a unity of purpose in pursuing its project: jihad against Israel and abolishment of political sectarianism. .

Salafism in Lebanon: From Apoliticism to Transnational Jihadism

The book explores the relationship between the ideologies of the various schools of Salafism and their practices, in relation to Lebanese politics.

The Syrian Refugee Crisis in Lebanon: The Double Tragedy of Refugees and Impacted Host Communities

Scheduled for release in August 2016 this book examines the unfolding of the Syrian refugee crisis in relation to the spillover of the Syrian civil war in Lebanon and against the background of Lebanon–Syria relations and Lebanon’s socio-political, cultural, legal, and economic conditions

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.