Sunni Radicalism and the Current Crisis in Lebanon
Dr. Bernard Rougier discusses the spectrum of radical Sunni movements in Lebanon, their ideologies, and their reactions to recent events - including the murder of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005 and last summer's war between Israel and the Shiite terrorist group Hezbollah.
In addition, he discusses how radical Sunni groups think about and prioritize their conflicts with their many declared enemies - the Syrian regime, the Shia as a whole, and the West.
Dr. Rougier also assesses how Sunni radicals have affected the current political crisis between the Siniora government and Hezbollah.
Bio
Hillel Fradkin
Hillel Fradkin joined Hudson Institute as a senior fellow in June 2004. He directs Hudson's Center on Islam, Democracy, and the Future of the Muslim World.
Prior to joining Hudson, Fradkin was president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he directed the Islam and American Democracy program, the Jewish Studies program, and the Foreign Policy program.
From 1998 to 2001, Fradkin was the W.H. Brady Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, after giving a decade of service to the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation as vice president. From 1983 to 1986 Fradkin was a program officer with the John M. Olin Foundation.
Fradkin has a long history of service in higher education. From 1987 to 1998, he was a professor at the University of Chicago; from 1979 to 1986 he was an assistant professor at Barnard College and Columbia University; from 1977 to 1979 he was a visiting instructor at Yale University; and from 1977 to 1979 he was assistant director of the Project on Islamic Thought at the University of Maryland.
Dr. Bernard Rougier
Dr. Bernard Rougier is an assistant professor of political science at the Universite d'Auvergne in France, and a researcher at Sciences-Po in Paris. He has spent more than five years in Lebanon and over a decade in the Middle East as a researcher for the French Institute for the Middle East (IFPO).
Dr. Rougier is the author, most recently, of Everyday Jihad: The Rise of Radical Islam Among Palestinians in Lebanon (Harvard University Press), an in-depth study about the spread of jihadist networks in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.