Robert C. Johansen, professor of political science and director of doctoral studies at the Kroc Institute, on Oct. 10 received the Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Peace Studies Award from the Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA). PJSA is the professional association for scholars of peace and conflict resolution and the North American affiliate of the International Peace Research Association.
At the awards ceremony during the association’s annual conference, held this year at Marquette University, Johansen was lauded for his seminal scholarly work on strengthening international institutions and their role in international peacebuilding and for his lifetime of public speaking and advocacy for peace.
Johansen's scholarship includes path-breaking work on analyzing foreign policy from a global perspective, describing international relations as a global system, and demonstrating the need to harmonize national interests with the global human interest. He was one of the first to emphasize that national democracies cannot fulfill the democratic principle in an age of interdependence unless there is also progress in achieving more effective global democratic governance.
A senior fellow of the Kroc Institute since its founding in 1986, Johansen has taught and mentored generations of peace scholars and practitioners, served as director of graduate studies, and provided leadership in establishing Kroc’s doctoral program, which he directs. He is the author of The National Interest and the Human Interest: An Analysis of U.S. Foreign Policy (Princeton University Press) and co-editor of The Constitutional Foundations of World Peace (SUNY Press). He has published in World Politics, Journal of Peace Research, Global Governance, Third World Quarterly, Journal of International Affairs, Political Studies, The Atlantic, Harper's, and The New York Times.
Johansen writes on United Nations peacebuilding; ethics and international relations; and enforcing international law prohibiting crimes against humanity and war crimes. He has served as program chair for the International Studies Association, past president of the World Policy Institute, and founding editor-in-chief of the World Policy Journal. He has held visiting appointments at Princeton University (Center for International Studies) and Harvard University (Center for International Affairs and Center for the Study of World Religions).
As president of the Institute for World Order (now the World Policy Institute) in New York, Johansen helped build, along with Richard Falk, Johan Galtung, Samuel Kim, Rajni Kothari, Ali Mazrui, Saul Mendlovitz, and Yoshi Sakamoto, a global network of more than 10,000 academics to promote a more peaceful, just, and sustainable global order.
Contact: Bob Johansen, (574) 631-6971, rjohans1@nd.edu