In addition to writing several books on social movements, particularly Islamic and Jihadist groups, American foreign policy, the great powers and the Middle East, Arab and Muslim politics, Gerges has written scores of articles on a broad spectrum of topics and subjects dealing with the greater Middle East, the international relations of the region, Al Qaeda, America’s encounter with Islam, Hamas, Hezbollah, religion and politics, and democratization and political transition. These articles have appeared in magazines like Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Newsweek, The New Statesmen, Democracy: Journal of Ideas, Middle East Journal, Survival, Al Mustqbal al-Arabi, Middle East Insight, and others. His editorials have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Christian Science Monitor, International Herald Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, The Independent (London), Al Hayat (London), The Guardian (London) and other papers.
Gerges’ recently contributed a chapter, “The Transformation of Arab Politics: Disentangling Myth from Reality” to William Roger Louis and Avi Shlaim’s The 1967 Arab-Israeli War: Origins and Consequences (February 2012).
Recent Books
Obama and the Middle East: The End of America’s Moment? – Palgrave Macmillan, May 2012
During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised to distance the United States from the neoconservative foreign policy legacy of his predecessor, George W. Bush, and usher in a new era of a global, interconnected world. More than two years have passed since his inauguration, and the reality of President Obama’s approach is in stark contrast to the ebullient and optimistic image that he originally built up. Taking stock of Obama’s first two and a half years in the White House, this book places his engagement in the Middle East within the broader context of U.S. foreign policy since 9/11 and examines key areas that have posed a challenge to his administration: negotiation with Israel and Palestine, troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan, engagement with the Arab Spring, intervention in Libya, and the death of Osama bin Laden. > read more
The Rise and Fall of Al-Qaeda – Oxford University Press, September 2011
In this concise and fascinating book, Fawaz A. Gerges argues that Al-Qaeda has degenerated into a fractured, marginal body kept alive largely by the self-serving anti-terrorist bureaucracy it helped to spawn. In The Rise and Fall of Al-Qaeda, Fawaz Gerges, a public intellectual known widely in the academe and media for his expertise on radical ideologies, including jihadism, argues that the Western powers have become mired in a “terrorism narrative,” stemming from the mistaken belief that America is in danger of a devastating attack by a crippled Al-Qaeda. To explain why Al-Qaeda is no longer a threat, he provides a briskly written history of the organization, showing its emergence from the disintegrating local jihadist movements of the mid-1990s-not just the Afghan resistance of the 1980s, as many believe-in “a desperate effort to rescue a sinking ship by altering its course.” > read more
The Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global – Cambridge University Press, September 2005
Through several years of primary field research, the author unravels the story of the jihadist movement and explores how it came into being, the philosophies of its founding fathers, its structure, the rifts and tensions that split its ranks, and why some members, like Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, favored international over local strategies in taking the war to the West. This is an articulate and original book that sheds light on the tactics used by the jihadis in the last three decades. > read more
Journey of the Jihadist: Inside Muslim Militancy – Harcourt Press, May 2006
As Middle Eastern scholar and media commentator Fawaz A. Gerges reveals in this unstinting, deeply personal, and brilliantly illuminating book, we need to know now more than ever who the jihadists are and to listen to what they are saying to each other and the world. The jihadist journey has led to bloodshed and turmoil. It did not begin on September 11 and it will not end in Baghdad. This crucially important and timely book maps the direction jihadism will take in the months and years ahead by showing where—and with whom—it all started. > read more
