 | This articleis anautobiography or has been extensively edited by the subject or by someone connected to the subject. It may need editing to conform to Wikipedia'sneutral point of view policy. There may be relevant discussion on thetalk page.See ouradvice if the article is about you and read ourscam warning in case someone asks for money to edit this article.(July 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
David Charles Rapoport | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1929-01-07)January 7, 1929 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | February 10, 2024 (aged 95) |
David Charles Rapoport (January 7, 1929 – February 10, 2024) was an American Professor Emeritus of Political Science atUniversity of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) who focused on the study ofterrorism.[1]
Rapoport received his Ph.D. atUniversity of California, Berkeley in 1960. In 1962 he joined the UCLA political science department. In the late 1960s he became interested in terrorism and in 1969 taught the first terrorist course in the U.S.[2] In 1989, he established the journalTerrorism and Political Violence and is its chief editor.,[2] credited as “one of two journals which has made terrorism into an academic field”.[3] He received 12 Awards from a variety of Foundations including the Social Science Research Council,Ford Foundation, Fulbright,American Council of Learned Societies,National Institute of Mental Health and Harry Frank Guggenheim.
After retiring in 1995, he founded the Center for the Study of Religion UCLA and became the Chair of the Interdepartmental Religion Major 1995–7. He continued teaching until 2011, and received the UCLA Emeritus Distinguished Dickson Award in 2007. Rapoport died on February 10, 2024, at the age of 95.[4]
Rapoport wrote and edited six books, 50 academic articles and 12 op-ed newspaper columns. Ten academic publications were republished in Spanish, French and German. Two of his academic articles were written for Encyclopedias, and a third will be published in 2017.[5]
He wrote a series of articles on ancient religious traditions, including their interaction with terrorism.[6] He also wrote a number of essays on apocalyptic movements in the modern world, especially inChristianity.[7]
Rapaport's 1999 article “Terrorism” in theEncyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict contained an analysis of the history of modern global rebel terror. He argues that political concerns and technological development produced the new iterations of terrorism in the form of "waves". The "new terrorism" began in the 1880s and has produced four different overlapping waves, the Anarchist, Anti-Colonial, New Left and Religious. The argument drew little attention until Rapoport published a second article on the subject immediately after the 9/11 attack, “The Fourth Wave: September 11 in the History of Terrorism” in Current History. The aim was to demonstrate that although the tragedy “created a resolve... to end terror everywhere”, the history of modern global terror did not inspire much confidence that this resolve would succeed.[8][9] The article was widely influential in the field of terrorism studies.[10][11]
