Aviva Krauthammer
"Assaf Moghadam Explores Global Jihad Movement and Increase in Suicide Attacks"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Winter 2008-09
Belfer Center Programs or Projects: International Security; Religion in International Affairs
For nearly a decade, Assaf Moghadam’s research has examined the rise and spread of suicide attacks. As a graduate student at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, Moghadam wrote a master’s thesis on Palestinian suicide terrorism, which he later turned into a dissertation examining suicide attacks planned and executed by Al Qaeda and the global jihad movement. Currently a fellow with the Belfer Center’s International Security Program/Initiative on Religion in International Affairs, Moghadam writes extensively on terrorism. In 2006, he published The Roots of Terrorism in the course of his dissertation research.
Moghadam recently completed his second book manuscript. The Globalization of Martyrdom: Al Qaeda, Salafi Jihad, and the Diffusion of Suicide Attacks examines the reasons for the unprecedented rise in suicide missions during the past decade. (See page 14.)
Moghadam says his time at the Belfer Center has been integral to his personal, academic, and professional development. “Belfer faculty and fellows have not only raised the academic quality of my research, but have also reminded me to answer the critical ‘so what?’ question, thereby ensuring that my research is not only sound, but relevant,” he said.
Currently an assistant professor and senior associate at the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Moghadam directs West Point’s Advanced Terrorism Course and the CTC’s newly established Shia Ideology Program. Along with his non-resident joint fellowship at Belfer Center and his work at West Point, Moghadam is completing work on an edited volume that examines the nature and state of Shia ideology.
For more information about this publication please contact the Belfer Center Communications Office at 617-495-9858.
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