Walid Phares was born in Lebanon, where he studied at the Lebanese and St Joseph Universities. After earning degrees in law, political science and sociology, he practiced law in Beirut. He then earned a Masters degree in International Law from the Université de Lyon in France and a Ph.D. in international relations and strategic studies from the University of Miami. He emigrated to the United States in 1990.

As of 2008, Phares teaches Global Strategies at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. He is a Senior Fellow and the Director of the Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, D.C., and a Visiting Fellow at the European Foundation for Democracy in Brussels. In 2008 he also became the Coordinator of the Trans-Atlantic Parliamentary Group on Counter Jihadi-Terrorism.

Phares taught at the Department of Political Science at Florida Atlantic University between 1993 and 2005. He has been a senior lecturer at the Lifelong Learning Society since 1994. His courses include Middle East Politics, Political History, Ethnic and Religious Conflict and International Terrorism. He has given lectures throughout North America and Europe.

Books

Journals

Phares' articles have appeared in Middle East Quarterly, Global Affairs, Journal of Middle East, South Asian Studies, The Journal of International Security Affairs and other journals.

His columns have appeared in many publications including The Washington Times, The Wall Street Journal, World Defense Review, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Denver Post, The Indianapolis Star, The San Diego Union-Tribune, Oregon News, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Detroit Free Press, the Chicago Sun-Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, La Razon (Spain), Le Matin (Montreal), al Siyassa (Kuwait), and al Nahar (Lebanon),