Faculty Name:Joseph Morrison Skelly, PhD

Areas of Interest

• International Terrorism and Counterterrorism
• Military Affairs
• International Diplomacy
• The Middle East
• Contemporary Europe
• Ireland and Northern Ireland

Courses Taught

• International Terrorism
• Ethics of Peace and War
• Modern Middle East
• Contemporary Middle East
• Islam and Politics: From Theocracy to Democracy
• Divided Societies: Israel/Palestine and Northern Ireland
• World War I and Its Consequences
• World War II in Europe
• European Genocides, 1914-45
• Post-War Europe, 1945-95
• European Union or Disunion?
• Irish Politics: North and South
• World War II in Asia and the Pacific
• U.S. Role in Vietnam, 1940-1975
• Contemporary Asia
• The United Nations and International Affairs
• The Elections of 2024
• Natural Rights, Civil Rights, Human Rights
• Senior Research Seminar

Honors and Awards

• Excellence in Teaching, University of Mount Saint Vincent | 2002, 2010, 2023
• Irish Voice Irish Education 100 | 2015, 2016
• Faculty Research Sabbatical, University of Mount Saint Vincent | 2008, 2019

Scholarly Appointments

• Treasurer, Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa | 2007-25
• Writing Fellow, Middle East Forum | 2010-25
• Academic Fellow, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies | 2003-07

Department of History

• Chair, 2025-26
• Director, Minor in Political Science, 2014-2024
• Coordinator, Internships and Careers, 2014-2024

Military Service

• Components
• United States Army Reserve, 2001-21
• United States Army National Guard, 1996-2000

Major Awards

• Bronze Star
• Combat Action Badge
• Iraq Campaign Medal
• Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
• Meritorious Service Medal
• Army Commendation Medal
• Army Achievement Medal
• Armed Forces Service Medal
• General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award

Publications

Books

• Political Islam from Muhammad to Ahmadinejad: Defenders, Detractors, Definitions, ed. Santa Barbara: Praeger Security International, 2010.
• Irish Foreign Policy, 1919-66: From Independence to Internationalism, ed. with Michael Kennedy. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000.
• Ideas Matter: Essays in Honour of Conor Cruise O’Brien, ed. with Richard English. Dublin: Poolbeg Press, 1998; Lanham: University Press of America, 2000.
• Irish Diplomacy at the United Nations, 1945-65: National Interests and the International Order. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1997.

Scholarly Articles

• “Into the Labyrinth: Terrorism, History and Diplomacy.” In The Cambridge History of Terrorism, ed. by Richard English, 594-622. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021.
• “Afghanistan: Not Another Vietnam,” World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society. ABC-CLIO, January 2012.
• “Muslim-West Relations: The Importance of Moderate Muslims,” World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society. ABC-CLIO. September, 2010.
• “Political Islam from Muhammad to Ahmadinejad,” In Political Islam from Muhammad to Ahmadinejad: Defenders, Detractors, and Definitions, ed. by Joseph Morrison Skelly, 3-12. Santa Barbara: Praeger Security International, 2010.
• “Celtic Tiger, American Eagle: Irish Lessons for a Regional Economy in the U.S.” In What Did We Do Right? Global Perspectives on Ireland’s ‘Miracle,’ ed. by Rory Miller and Michael O’Sullivan, 23-33. Dublin: Blackhall Publishers, 2010.
• “In Mesopotamia a Safe Game Must Be Played,” Introduction to The First Iraq War, 1914 – 1918: Britain’s Mesopotamian Campaign, A.J. Barker, ix-xx. New York, Enigma Books; First published as The Bastard War: The Mesopotamian Campaign of 1914-1918 in 1968 by Dial Press, 2009.
• “Kennedy, John F., Visit,” “Neutrality,” “United Nations,” The Encyclopedia of Irish History and Culture, ed. by James S. Donnelly, i, 341, i, 462-64, ii, 733-35. 2 vols. New York: Thomson-Gale, 2004.
• “National Interests and International Mediation: Ireland’s South Tyrol Initiative in the United Nations, 1960-61,” In Irish Foreign Policy, 1919-66: From Independence to Internationalism, ed. by Michael Kennedy and Joseph Morrison Skelly, 286-307. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000.
• “The Study of Irish Foreign Policy from Independence to Internationalism,” with Michael Kennedy. In Irish Foreign Policy, 1919-66: From Independence to Internationalism, ed. by Michael Kennedy and Joseph Morrison Skelly, 13-24. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000.
• “Appeasement in Our Time: Conor Cruise O’Brien’s Analysis of the Irish Peace Process.” Irish Studies in International Affairs 10, 221-36, 1999.
• “Ideas Matter,” with Richard English. In Ideas Matter: Essays in Honour of Conor Cruise O’Brien, ed. by Richard English and Joseph Morrison Skelly, 9-38. Dublin: Poolbeg Press, 1998.
• “Ireland, the Department of External Affairs, and the United Nations, 1945-55: a New Look.” Irish Studies in International Affairs 7, 63-80, 1996.
• Select Book Reviews
  Ehud Eilam, Israel’s New Wars: The Conflicts between Israel and Iran, Hezbollah and the Palestinians Since the 1990s. New York, Peter Lang, 2024. Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs 18, no. 3 (2024), 355-59.
• Jessica Emami, Social Media Victimization: Theories and Impacts of Cyberpunishment. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2023. Website of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa: Book Review Section, www.asmeascholars.org (December 2023).
• Henry Kopel, War on Hate: How to Stop Genocide, Fight Terrorism, and Defend Freedom. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2021. Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs 16, no. 2 (2022), 271-75.
• Ido Levy, Soldiers of End-Times: Assessing the Military Effectiveness of the Islamic State. Washington, DC: The Washington Institute for Near-East Policy, 2021. Journal of Military History 86, no. 4 (October 2022), 1070-71.
• Michael F. Cairo, The Gulf: The Bush Presidencies and the Middle East. Lexington, University Press of Kentucky, 2012. Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs 8, no. 3 (2014), 121-26.
• Jonathan Spyer, The Transforming Fire: The Rise of the Israel-Islamist Conflict. New York: Continuum, 2011. Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs 6, no. 2 (2012), 151-54.
• Ofira Seliktar, The Politics of Intelligence and American Wars with Iraq. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008 and Ofira Seliktar, Doomed to Failure? The Politics and Intelligence of the Oslo Peace Process, Santa Barbara: Praeger Security International, 2009. International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence 23, no. 3 (Fall 2010), 567-72.
• Rashid Khalidi, Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Dominance in the Middle East, Boston: Beacon Press, 2009. Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs 3, no. 3 (2009), 109-11.
• Wayne H. Bowen, Undoing Saddam: From Occupation to Sovereignty in Northern Iraq, Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2007. Website of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa: Book Review Section (July 2009).
• Philip Carl Salzman and Donna Robinson Divine, eds. Postcolonial Theory and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, New York: Routledge, 2008. Jewish Political Studies Review 21, nos. 3-4 (Fall 2009), 181-84.
• Melanie Phillips, Londonistan, New York: Encounter Books, 2006; Website of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa: Book Review Section (January 2008).
• Andrew McCarthy, Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad, New York: Encounter Books, 2008; Website of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa: Book Review Section (April 2008).
• Michael Smith, Killer Elite, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007. International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence 21, no. 2 (Summer 2008), 418-27.
• Sean Patrick Donlan, ed., Edmund Burke’s Irish Identities, Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2007. The Recorder 20, no. 2 and 21, no. 1 (Spring and Fall 2008), 170-4.
• Rory Miller, ed., Ireland and the Middle East: Trade, Society and Peace, Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2007. Middle East Quarterly 15, no. 1 (Winter 2008), 88.
• Efraim Halevy, Man in the Shadows: Inside the Middle East Crisis with a Man Who Led the Mossad, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2006. International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence 20, no. 4 (Winter 2007), 742-50.
• General Publications
  “Israel is Not the Vassal State of Any Nation,” Middle East Dispatch, October 7, 2024.
• “Foreword,” In Drawing a Line in the Sea: The Gaza Flotilla Incident and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, ed. by Thomas E. Copeland, ix-x. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2011.
• “Riding Out the Storm: Israel, the United States, and Barack Obama’s Post-American Foreign Policy,” Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs 4, no. 2, 31-35, 2010.
• “Civil Affairs Soldiers: Force Multipliers in Operation Iraqi Freedom,” Victor Davis Hanson: Private Papers, December 17, 2004.
• “Challenging the Irish American Consensus,” Historically Speaking: The Newsletter of the Historical Society, ii, no. 2, 9-11, January 2001.
• “What Now for Ulster, Mr. Blair?” with Robert McCartney, Belfast Telegraph, September 20, 2001.
• “The Dark Side of Peace,” with Conor Cruise O’Brien, Washington Times, July 27, 2000.

National Review Online

• “The Speech and its Problems,” September 1, 2010.
• “Obama’s Bookshelf: A Symposium,” August 14, 2009.
• “Outrider of the Enlightenment: The Legacy of Conor Cruise O’Brien,” March 17, 2009.
• “Be Not Afraid: Christian Resistance and the Meaning of Christmas,” December 22, 2008.
• “Radical Secularism, Militant Islamism,” November 7, 2008.
• “Unearthing the Weather Underground,” October 17, 2008.
• “Sidestepping the Sandstorm? Reforming Middle Eastern Studies,” September 11, 2008.
• “A Conservative Summer: A Symposium,” July 3, 2008.
• “To Live with Honor,” May 23, 2008.
• “Number 12, Arran Quay: Edmund Burke and Ireland,” March 14, 2008.
• “Turning Point? A Symposium,” July 31, 2007.
• “Why We Fight,” July 4, 2007.
• “The Democratic Fallen,” May 18, 2007.
• “Can this Washington Be Saved? Can this War? A Symposium,” May 2, 2007.
• “National Interests and National Honor,” April 26, 2007.
• “Surge Scoring: A Symposium,” January 11, 2007.
• “Bastogne!” December 21, 2006.
• “The Reckoning of the Dead,” November 6, 2006.

Irish Independent

• “Echoes of Ireland’s Struggle in Iraq,” Irish Independent, February 13, 2005.

United Press International

• “Is the ‘Road Map’ a U.S. Setback?” with Joel Fishman July, 2003 (co-author).
• “The IRA: Next on the List,” August, 2002.
• “An Intellectual Famine in Irish America,” April, 2001.

Select Presentations

• “Assessing the Impact of the Iranian-Israeli-American Conflict in the Middle East.” Panel Discussion, Israel Council on Foreign Relations, Jerusalem, Israel, June 26, 2025.
• “Twenty Years After the War in Iraq.” Roundtable Discussion, Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, Sixteenth Annual Conference, Washington, DC, November, 2023.
• “Toward a Renewed Foreign Policy and a Limited but More Lethal Military Strategy: Lessons Learned from Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.” Panel Discussion, with Mark Clark, Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, Washington, DC, January, 2023.
• “America and the World After Afghanistan.” Panel Discussion, Israel Council on Foreign Relations, Jerusalem, Israel, September, 2021.
• “Who Lost Iraq?” Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, Annual Conference, “Searching for Balance in the Middle East and Africa,” Washington, DC, October 2014.
• “Resolving Legal Conflicts in Counterterrorism: Drone Strikes, Military Tribunals, Guantanamo Bay.” Center for International Studies, University of Mount Saint Vincent, New York, NY, March 2011.
• “Middle East and African Studies in the Academy: An Assessment.” New York State Chapter, National Association of Scholars, New York, NY, March 2010.
• “‘We Win, They Lose’: A Strategy for Victory in the War on Islamist Terrorism.” Global War on Terrorism Lecture Series, High Point University, High Point, NC, February 2010.
• “Defining – and Achieving – Victory in Operation Iraqi Freedom.” Yale University, New Haven, CT, April 2006.
• “Education in Iraq: Lessons Learned in Defense, Diplomacy and Development.” United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Conference, “Education in Conflict Environments,” Washington, DC, August 2005.
• “The Peace Process in Northern Ireland: The End of the Road?” Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, March 2004.