J. Peter Pham
Associate Professor of Justice Studies, Political Science, and Africana Studies
James Madison University
Rising Star Recipient
J. Peter Pham is Associate Professor of Justice Studies, Political Science, and Africana Studies at James Madison University, where he has taught since 2004. From 2005 through 2009, he also directed JMU’s Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs.
Dr. Pham’s scholarship focuses on intersection of international relations, international law, political theory, and ethics, with particular concentrations on US foreign and defense policy, African politics and security, and terrorism and political violence.
The author of over 300 essays and reviews and the author, editor, or translator of over a dozen books, Dr. Pham also writes a weekly column on African security issues and American interests, “Strategic Interests,” which is distributed by the World Defense Review, and contributes to a number of online publications, including National Interest Online and ForeignPolicy.com. Dr. Pham regularly appears as a commentator in various broadcast and print media outlets, including CBS, PBS, VOA, CNN, the Fox News Channel, MSNBC, National Public Radio, the BBC, Radio France Internationale, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, USA Today, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, The Times of London, New Statesman, and Maclean’s, and is frequently invited to testify before Congress and brief senior administration officials.
Having lived, studied, and taught in various Middle Eastern and African countries, Dr. Pham is the incumbent Vice President of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA), which represents nearly 900 scholars of Middle Eastern and African Studies at more than 300 colleges and universities in the United States and overseas. He also edits ASMEA’s Journal of the Middle East and Africa.
Dr. Pham was the winner of the 2008 Nelson Mandela International Prize for African Security and Development jointly presented by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) for Defence and Security Studies, the Brenthurst Foundation, and the Nelson Mandela Foundation. He is currently on a sabbatical leave from JMU and holds a senior fellowship at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, a New York-based think tank, where he is heading a research project supported by the US Department of Defense.
"I am convinced that when faculty utilize the firm ground of pressing ‘real world’ concerns to integrate their varied strands of research, teaching, and civic engagement, all three aspects of the academic life are enhanced to the benefit of the scholar and the enrichment of his or her students and peers, as well as the community as a whole."