Hillel Fradkin

Senior Fellow and Director, Center on Islam, Democracy, and the Future of the Muslim World

At A Glance:

Hillel Fradkin is a senior fellow and director of the Center on Islam, Democracy, and the Future of the Muslim World at Hudson Institute.

Biography

Hillel Fradkin is a senior fellow and director of the Center on Islam, Democracy, and the Future of the Muslim World at Hudson Institute. He is founder and co-editor with Husain Haqqani and Eric Brown of the center's Current Trends in Islamist Ideology, the leading journal on contemporary Islamism (sometimes known as militant or radical Islam).

Dr. Fradkin is currently completing a book on the character and history of the dispute between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. Its title is The Best of Communities Created for Man: The Contemporary Sunni Shiite Conflict in Historical Perspective. He is also often a director and participant in collaborative projects on the future dynamics of the order of the greater Middle East and the future dynamics of Islamism in Muslim politics done for the US Department of Defense. Recently, he has published articles on the Six Day War of June 1967 as well as the situation of the state of Israel in the presently evolving new world order. He will soon be undertaking a new book on the subject of nationalism and universalism as seen in the perspective of the Hebrew Bible.

Dr. Fradkin received his PhD in Islamic studies from the University of Chicago in 1978 for work done under the direction of the late Pakistani theologian Fazlur Rahman and was also a student of Dr. Muhsin Mahdi of Harvard University. His graduate studies included work on the history of Jewish thought. He received a BA in government from Cornell University.

Prior to joining Hudson in 2004, Dr. Fradkin was a fellow at several other research institutes. He was a member of the faculties of the University of Chicago (1986–98) and Columbia University/Barnard College (1979–86). He has taught at Yale University and Georgetown University. He was vice president of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and director of its grant-making program in public policy research (1986-1998). He served in the US Army from 1969 to 1972 and was a member of the National Council of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

He writes on both classical and contemporary Islam as well as Middle Eastern politics, American foreign and security policy, and international relations, and has lectured widely both in the US and abroad, including in France, Great Britain, Germany, Morocco, Turkey, and Israel, before academic, public, and governmental audiences. In addition to work on Islamic history and thought, he has also written on the history of the problematic relationship of religion and politics as well as the history of Jewish thought.

His foreign languages include Hebrew, French, and Arabic.

Events
10
December 2018
Past Event
Needed Now More Than Ever: The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998
Featured Speakers:
Samuel Brownback
Frank R. Wolf
Thomas L. Gallagher
Nina Shea
Kristina Arriaga
Paul Marshall
Hillel Fradkin
Elizabeth Prodromou
Erin Rodewald
Lou Ann Sabatier
Katrina Lantos Swett
(Photo by Ibrahim Ezzat/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
10
December 2018
Past Event
Needed Now More Than Ever: The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998

Experts discuss the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998

(Photo by Ibrahim Ezzat/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Samuel Brownback
Frank R. Wolf
Thomas L. Gallagher
Nina Shea
Kristina Arriaga
Paul Marshall
Hillel Fradkin
Elizabeth Prodromou
Erin Rodewald
Lou Ann Sabatier
Katrina Lantos Swett
26
March 2018
Past Event
US in a Post-ISIS Iraq and Syria: Realigning Allies and Constraining Adversaries
Featured Speakers:
Michael Pregent
Hillel Fradkin
Jennifer Cafarella
Dr. Nahro Zagros
Dr. Ammar Kahf
Turkey, Free Syrian Army take complete control of Afrin.
26
March 2018
Past Event
US in a Post-ISIS Iraq and Syria: Realigning Allies and Constraining Adversaries

Hillel Fradkin, Michael Pregent, Jennifer Cafarella, Nahro Zagros, and Dr. Ammar Kahf discuss the Post-ISIS middle east.

Turkey, Free Syrian Army take complete control of Afrin.
Featured Speakers:
Michael Pregent
Hillel Fradkin
Jennifer Cafarella
Dr. Nahro Zagros
Dr. Ammar Kahf
23
October 2017
Past Event
Countering Violent Extremism: Qatar, Iran, and the Muslim Brotherhood
Featured Speakers:
Hillel Fradkin
Secretary Leon E. Panetta
Lally Weymouth
Representative Brad Sherman (D-CA)
Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX)
Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA)
Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA)
General Charles “Chuck” Wald, US Army (Ret.)
Ambassador Alberto Fernandez
Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad
Ray Takeyh
William Wechsler
Hillel Fradkin
Lally Weymouth
General David Petraeus, US Army (Ret.)
Representative Don Bacon (R-NE)
Ambassador Dennis Ross
Senator Tom Cotton (R-AK)
Catherine Herridge
Representative Robert Pittenger (R-TX)
Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA)
Hillel Fradkin
Stephen K. Bannon
Ambassador Husain Haqqani
Ambassador Husain Haqqani
(Image credit: 200mm)
23
October 2017
Past Event
Countering Violent Extremism: Qatar, Iran, and the Muslim Brotherhood

Countering Violent Extremism: Qatar, Iran, and the Muslim Brotherhood

(Image credit: 200mm)
Featured Speakers:
Hillel Fradkin
Secretary Leon E. Panetta
Lally Weymouth
Representative Brad Sherman (D-CA)
Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX)
Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA)
Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA)
General Charles “Chuck” Wald, US Army (Ret.)
Ambassador Alberto Fernandez
Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad
Ray Takeyh
William Wechsler
Hillel Fradkin
Lally Weymouth
General David Petraeus, US Army (Ret.)
Representative Don Bacon (R-NE)
Ambassador Dennis Ross
Senator Tom Cotton (R-AK)
Catherine Herridge
Representative Robert Pittenger (R-TX)
Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA)
Hillel Fradkin
Stephen K. Bannon
Ambassador Husain Haqqani
Ambassador Husain Haqqani
U.S. President Donald Trump (2nd L), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L), UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan (R) and Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani (2nd R) on Sept. 15, 2020.
Caption
U.S. President Donald Trump (2nd L), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L), UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan (R) and Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani (2nd R) on Sept. 15, 2020.
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Former Senior Vice President
Senior Fellow and Director, Center on Islam, Democracy, and the Future of the Muslim World
Commentary
7 Min Read
Cartoon published in the British newspaper the INDEPENDENT in which the Ayatollah Khomeini is throwing a copy of THE RIGHTS OF MAN by Tom Paine onto a bonfire stoked with copies of THE SATANIC VERSES by Salman Rushdie. (Terry Smith/The LIFE Images Collect
Caption
Cartoon published in the British newspaper the INDEPENDENT in which the Ayatollah Khomeini is throwing a copy of THE RIGHTS OF MAN by Tom Paine onto a bonfire stoked with copies of THE SATANIC VERSES by Salman Rushdie. (Terry Smith/The LIFE Images Collect
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Senior Fellow and Director, Center on Islam, Democracy, and the Future of the Muslim World
Commentary
10 Min Read