mabrahms@ucla.edu

310-776-1232

 

Education

Ph.D.      University of California - Los Angeles , Oct. 2004-Present

              Political Science

              Terrorism, International Relations Theory, Political Psychology

 

M.Phil.   Oxford University , St. Antony’s College, Oct. 2000-June 2002

              International Relations

              U.S. Foreign Policy, International Relations of the Middle East

 

B.A.       University of Pennsylvania , Sept. 1996-May 2000

               Political Science, History

 

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

 

“What Terrorists Really Want: Terrorist Motives and Counterterrorism Strategy,” International Security, spring 2008

 

“The Role of Community Perceptions in Terrorism and Insurgencies,” in James J.F. Forest , ed., Information Warfare 2.0: Terrorism, Strategic Influence and the Internet (Praeger Security International, 2008)

 

“Does Terrorism Ever Work? The 2004 Madrid Train Bombings,” International Security, summer 2007 (correspondence in response to William Rose and Rysia Murphy)

 

“Why Democracies Make Superior Counterterrorists,” Security Studies, spring 2007

 

“Why Terrorism Does Not Work,” International Security, fall 2006, PDF 205 KB  

 

[Reprinted in Jack Snyder and Karen Mingst, eds., Essential Readings in World Politics, 3^rd Edition (W.W. Norton and Company, 2007)]

 

“Al-Qaeda’s Scorecard: A Progress Report on Al-Qaeda’s Objectives,” Studies in Conflict and

Terrorism, July-August 2006

 

“Al-Qaeda’s Miscommunication War: The Terrorism Paradox,” Terrorism and Political Violence, summer 2005

 

“Are Terrorists Really Rational? The Palestinian Example,” Orbis, summer 2004

 

“When Rogues Defy Reason: Bashar’s Syria ,” Middle East Quarterly, fall 2003

 

“A Window of Opportunity for Israel ?” Middle East Quarterly, summer 2003

 

 

 

Media Interviews on Terrorism

 

ABC, Al-Arabiyya, Al-Hurra, Al-Jazeera, BBC, BBC Radio, CBS Evening News, CNN, CNN Financial, Fox News, National Public Radio, PBS documentaries, Radio Free Europe, Voice of America, Wall Street Journal

 

 

Non-UCLA Fellowships/Work

Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University , Sept. 2005-August 2006

Research Associate (in Terrorism)

 

Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Tel Aviv University , Dec. 2003-June 2004

Visiting Fellow

 

Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Dec. 2002-Aug. 2004

Fellow 

 

Middle East Forum, Aug.2002-Dec. 2002

Visiting Fellow

 

American Jewish Committee, Office of International Affairs, June 2001-Aug. 2001

Foreign Affairs Fellow

 

 

 

Honors/Achievements

 

“Why Terrorism Does Not Work” is the most downloaded article in the journal International Security (http://www.mitpressjournals.org/action/showMostReadArticles?journalCode=isec)

 

External reviewer for Oxford University Press, International Security, and Terrorism and Political Violence

 

The International Security Program at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs held an event on November 10, 2006 to discuss “Why Terrorism Does Not Work”

 

“Are Terrorists Really Rational? The Palestinian Example” was selected by the American Political

Science Association’s 2006 Task Force on Political Violence and Terrorism as a “state of the art political science contribution”

 

Commissioned op-ed writer on Palestinian terrorism for the Los Angeles Times

 

UCLA field paper was awarded “distinction” (committee members: Profs. Steven Spiegel and Art Stein)

 

Graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from University of Pennsylvania

 

 

 

Teaching

 

Teaching Associate for Professor Steven Spiegel, spring 2008

International Relations of the Middle East , Honors

 

Teaching Associate for Professor Marc Trachtenberg, winter 2008

World Politics and U.S. Foreign Policy After September 11

 

Teaching Associate for Professor Barry O’Neill, fall 2007

Arms Control and International Security

Teaching Assistant for Professor Steven Spiegel, spring 2007, 2005

International Relations of the Middle East , Honors

 

Teaching Assistant for Professor Deborah Larson, winter 2007

U.S. Foreign Policy

 

 

 

Selected Book Reviews, Op-Eds, and Policy Papers

 

“Dying to Win,” Middle East Policy, winter 2005

 

“Decision on Palestine Deferred: America , Britain and Wartime Diplomacy, 1939-1945,” Middle East Quarterly, winter 2004

 

“Terrorism Casts Pall on Road Map,” Los Angeles Times, Aug. 14, 2003

 

“Right of Return,” Ha’aretz, Aug. 12, 2003

 

“What Window of Opportunity ?” Jerusalem Post, July 17, 2003

 

“A Moment Lost,” Los Angeles Times, June 12, 2003

 

“Road Map Torn By Ambiguity,” Los Angeles Times, May 28, 2003

 

“The ‘Right of Return’ Debate Revisited,” Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, summer 2003

 

“Don’t Know Much about History,” Jerusalem Post, Apr. 7, 2003

 

“Bush’s Postwar Ambitions for Iraq ,” Ha’aretz, Feb. 10, 2003

 

“How Truman Won Over the UN Security Council,” Jerusalem Post, Feb. 5, 2003

 

“Easy on the Stick: Why the United States Should Deconflict,” Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Policywatch No.702, winter 2003