Dr. J. Peter Pham

Director, Michael S. Ansari Africa Center
Atlantic Council

Dr. J. Peter Pham is the Director of the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC.
 
Dr. Pham was previously Senior Vice President of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy in New York City, and editor of its bimonthly journal, American Foreign Policy Interests. He was also a tenured associate professor of Justice Studies, Political Science, and Africana Studies at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, where he was director of the Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs.

He has served on the Senior Advisory Group of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) since its creation and regularly lectures on African affairs at the Foreign Service Institute, the U.S. Army War College, the Joint Special Operations University, and other U.S. Government professional educational institutions.

The author of over 300 essays and reviews and the author, editor, or translator of over a dozen books, Dr. Pham also contributes regularly to a number of online publications, including National Interest Online and ForeignPolicy.com, and frequently appears as a commentator on broadcast and print media outlets including CBS, PBS, VOA, CNN, the Fox News Channel, MSNBC, National Public Radio, the BBC, Radio France Internationale, Reuters, the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Xinhua, 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, Maclean’s, Le Monde, Le Temps, Newsweek Japan, and Sanlian Life Week.

He is the incumbent vice president of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA), an academic organization which represents over 1,000 scholars of Middle Eastern and African Studies at more than 300 colleges and universities in the United States and other countries, and editor-in-chief of ASMEA’s Journal of the Middle East and Africa, published by Taylor and Francis.

Dr. Pham was the winner of the 2008 Nelson Mandela International Prize for African Security and Development, an award jointly presented by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) for Defence and Security Studies, the Brenthurst Foundation, and the Nelson Mandela Foundation.