BIOGRAPHY

 

Dr. J. Peter Pham is Assistant Professor of Justice Studies in the Center for Liberal and Applied Social Sciences. He is also an affiliate faculty member of the Department of Political Science and an associate faculty member of the Africana Studies Program.

Dr. Pham received his B.A. from the University of Chicago and his doctorate in ethics from the Gregorian University in Rome, Italy. Among other academic qualifications, he holds graduate degrees in theology, canon law, international affairs, administrative law, and international law. He is a member of the African Studies Association, the American Academy of Religion, the American Political Science Association, the American Society of International Law, the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy, the International Studies Association, the New York State Bar Association, and other professional and scholarly associations.

His research interest is the intersection of international relations, international law, political theory, and ethics, with particular concentrations on implications for United States foreign policy and African states as well as religion and global politics.

Dr. Pham is the author of over one hundred essays and reviews on a wide variety of subjects in scholarly and opinion journals on both sides of the Atlantic and the author, editor, or translator of over a dozen books. Among his recent publications are Liberia: Portrait of a Failed State (Reed Press, 2004), which has been critically acclaimed by Foreign Affairs, Worldview, Wilson Quarterly, American Foreign Policy Interests, and other scholarly publications, and Heirs of the Fisherman: Behind the Scenes of Papal Death and Succession (Oxford University Press, 2004), which has been hailed by reviewers as “the last word” and “the most complete study” on the subject. He also has another book, Child Soldiers, Adult Interests: Global Dimensions of the Sierra Leonean Tragedy, forthcoming in late 2005.

Dr. Pham is a member of the Editorial Review Board of Human Rights & Human Welfare, a refereed journal published on behalf of the International Human Rights Consortium by the Graduate School of International Studies of the University of Denver, and a member of the International Board of Advisors of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy. He is also the recipient of a 2005-2006 Academic Fellowship on Terrorism from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.