James Der Derian, a leading scholar of international relations, has focused on the impact of technology, media, and terrorism on global security. His most recent books are Critical Practices in International Theory (Routledge, 2009) and Virtuous War: Mapping the Military-Industrial-Media-Entertainment Network (Routledge, 2nd ed., 2009). Combining his interest in media and international politics, Der Derian has produced and directed several documentaries. His latest film, Human Terrain, focuses on the controversial program “Human Terrain Systems” that the US military has adopted to make cultural awareness a key element of its counterinsurgency strategy. The movie won the Audience Award at the November 2009 Festival dei Popoli in Florence and has been an official selection at several other leading film festivals.

Der Derian was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and has been a professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, a visiting scholar at Harvard University, as well as a Senior Associate Member of St Antony’s College, Oxford. His numerous academic honors include Carnegie Corporation grants for both his projects “Innovating Global Security and Global Media in the Twenty-First Century” (2008-10) and “Beyond Terror: Creating a New Global Security Agenda” (2006-08). His articles have appeared in the New York Times and Wired as well as in international relations publications such as International Affairs, Millennium Journal of International Studies, International Studies Quarterly, and the Review of International Studies.