Joshua M. Landis

He writes “Syria Comment,” a daily newsletter on Syrian politics that attracts some 3,000 readers a day. It is widely read by officials in Washington, Europe and Syria. Dr. Landis regularly travels to Washington DC to consult with the State Department and other government agencies.

He is a frequent analyst on TV and radio. Most recently he has appeared on the Jim Lehrer News Hour, Charlie Rose Show, CNN, Fox News, and has been widely quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, LA Times, and comments frequently for NPR and BBC radio. He has spoken at the Brookings Institute, USIP, Middle East Institute, and Council on Foreign Relations.

He was educated at Swarthmore (BA), Harvard (MA), and Princeton (PhD). He has lived over 14 years in the Middle East and received numerous grants to study in the region, including three Fulbright grants and one from the Social Science Research Council.

He is married to a Syrian, Manar Kachour Landis and speaks Arabic and French fluently as well as Italian and Turkish badly. He and Manar have two boys – Kendall and Jonah.

Articles on the web

• Joshua Landis sees U.S. policy in the region at a “crossroads.” Interview by Daniel Luban, Right Web| August 12, 2008.

• "Syria Private Universities," Forward, July 2007, pp. 8-11.
  
  
• Joshua Landis & Joe Pace, “The Syrian Opposition,” The Washington Quarterly, Vol. 30, pp. 45-68.
  
  
• "Islamic Education in Syria: Undoing Secularism," Also Translated into Arabic by The Tharwa Project, a Syrian-based think-tank. Published. Also published as “Syria: Secularism, Arabism, and Sunni Orthodoxy,” in Eleanor Doumato and Gregory Starrett, Eds., Teaching Islam: Textbooks and Religion in the Middle East, London & Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2007, pp. 177-196.
  
  
• "Syria and the 1948 War in Palestine." A shorter version of this article was published as “Syria in the 1948 Palestine War: Fighting King Abdullah’s Greater Syria Plan,” in Eugene Rogan and Avi Shlaim, eds., Rewriting the Palestine War: 1948 and the History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001, pp. 178-205. (Translated into French and Arabic)
  
  
• "Early U.S. Policy toward Palestinian Refugees: the Syria Option," in The Palestinian Regugees: Old Problems - New Solutions, eds. Joseph Ginat and Edward J. Perkins, University of Oklahoma Press: Norman OK, 2001, pp. 77-87.
  
  
• "Shishakli and the Druzes: Integration and Intransigence," in The Syrian Land: Processes of Integration and Fragmentation. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1998: 369-396.
  
  
• Dialogue with Syria: Opportunity or Ambush?” Bookings Institute, Washington DC., Oct. 2006.
• Lebanon Struggles to Maintain Stability After Assassination, PBS News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Nov. 22, 2006.
• "Iraq War Sapping US Influence in Lebanon," Council on Foreign Relations: NYC, Posted to CFR website, Nov. 3, 2006
• “Syria's role in the Mid-East,” Charlie Rose Show: PBS, Aug. 11, 2006.
• “Syria: Conflict with West Spurs Economic, not Political, Reform,” Arab Reform Bulletin, Published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Volume 4, Issue 5. June 2006. 
• “Damascus Rife With Rumors on Whether UN’s Lebanese Investigation Implicates Syrian Leadership,” Council on Foreign Relations: NYC, Posted to CFR website, September 21, 2005.
• “Don’t Push Syria Away,” New York Times, op-ed, September 17, 2005
• “Report From Damascus,” Council on Foreign Relations: NYC, Posted to CFR website, March 8, 2005
  
• The United States and Reform in Syria," The Syria Report, Issue N°18 / May 2004, pp. 4-6.
  
• Why Lebanon Should Repair Relations with Syria, Cham Press,  Jan 30, 2006
• Syrians fear the anarchy that an open, liberal government might bring,” Dallas Morning News,  January 8, 2006.
• Who Killed Hariri? The "Pushed Against the Wall" Thesis" as ... Cham Press,  Jan 22, 2006
• Hussam Taher Hussam, the 'Masked Witness', Cham Press, Nov. 30, 2005.” 
• “Syria is being Set Up to Fail: A Leaked Letter from Washington, Cham Press,  October 24, 2005.
• “Is Syria Ready for Regime Change?”(in Arabic) Syria News, Damascus, May 24, 2005.
• “Creating A Syrian Dream, Where None Exists Today,” The Daily Star, Lebanon, July 28, 2004.

Education:

• Princeton University (Ph.D., 1997: Near East Studies)
• Harvard University (M.A., 1984: Center for Mid East St.)
• Swarthmore College (B.A., 1979: Eur. Hist. and French Lit.)

Experience:

• University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma (1999-
• Princeton University, New Jersey (1997-99)
• Wake Forest University, North Carolina (1994-97)
• Sarah Lawrence College, New York (1991-94)
• International College, Beirut (1989-91)

E-Mail landis@ou.edu

Address: Home
632 E. Boyd St.
Norman, OK 73071