Professor Paul Moorcraft is an internationally respected expert on crisis communications, especially relating to security issues. He completed his studies at six British, Middle Eastern and African universities, thereafter lecturing fulltime (consecutively) at ten universities in the UK, US, Africa, Australia and New Zealand in journalism, politics and international relations. He was most recently a visiting professor at Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies. He worked fulltime for Time magazine in Africa, then for the BBC and most of the Western TV networks as a freelance producer/ correspondent. He has worked in thirty war zones in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Balkans, often with irregular and, sometimes, jihadist, forces. Most recently he has been operating in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine/Israel, Nepal, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Syria, Turkey, Sri Lanka and, for a pleasant change, the Maldives.
Dr Moorcraft spent five years as a senior instructor at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, and later the UK Joint Services Command and Staff College (JSCSC). He also worked in Corporate Communications in the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall; the MoD recalled him for service during the Iraq war in 2003. One of his main roles in Whitehall and as a member of the directing staff at JSCSC (later the UK Defence Academy) was advising on and teaching media operations (media ops). Dr Moorcraft also worked in media ops in Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq.
Dr Moorcraft is a regular broadcaster (BBC TV and radio, as well as Sky, Sky-Arabic, Al Jazeera, etc.) and op-ed writer for international newspapers (including the Guardian, New Statesman, Washington Times, Canberra Times, Business Day, etc.). He is the author of a wide range of books on military history, politics, crime and mathematics. He co-authored Axis of Evil: The War on Terror (Pen and Sword, 2005). His Shooting the Messenger: The Politics of War Reporting (Potomac, Washington, 2008) was co-authored with Professor Philip M. Taylor. An updated version was released in 2011 (Biteback, London). The first of many editions of The Rhodesian War: A Military History (with Dr Peter McLaughlin) was published by Pen and Sword books in 2008. Mugabe’s War Machine (Pen and Sword) came out in 2011. Total Destruction of the Tamil Tigers: The Rare Victory of Sri Lanka’s Long War was released by Pen and Sword in 2012. Three volumes of memoirs have been published; the most recent was Inside the Danger Zones: Travels to Arresting Places (Biteback, London, 2010). He is an award-winning novelist as well as the author of a publication related to his charity work (It Just Doesn’t Add Up: Explaining Dyscalculia and Overcoming Number Problems for Children and Adults (Tarquin, St Albans, 2015). Omar al-Bashir and Africa’s Longest War was released by Pen and Sword in June 2015; The Jihadist Threat: The Re-conquest of the West? (October 2015) was shortlisted for the British Army Military Book of the Year, 2016.
Paul Moorcraft is the director of the Centre for Foreign Policy Analysis, London, founded in 2004 and dedicated to conflict resolution. He was Head of Mission, for example, of fifty independent British observers at the Sudan election of 2010. He lives in a riverside cottage in the Surrey Hills, near Guildford.