Rik Coolsaet

According to his own website:

Rik Coolsaet is Professor of International Relations at Ghent University (Belgium). He is Chair of the Department of Political Science at Ghent University and serves as Director of the Security&Global Governance Program at Egmont-Royal Institute for International Relations (Brussels). In the past he has held several high-ranking official positions, such as deputy chief of the Cabinet of the Belgian Minister of Defence (1988-1992) and deputy chief of the Cabinet of the Minister of Foreign Affairs (1992-1995).

His most recent publication in English is Al-Qaeda: The Myth. The Root Causes of International Terrorism And How To Tackle Them (Ghent, Academia Press, 2005; also translated into French and Dutch). On this issue of terrorism he coordinates research on jihadi terrorism and radicalisation, at the different institutions he´s associated with and has been appointed at the European Commission´s Expert Group on Violent Radicalisation (established in 2006). In the autumn of 2007 his Jihadi Terrorism and the Radicalisation Challenge in Europe will be published at Ashgate (London).