George A. Lopez (Ph.D., Syracuse University, 1975) holds the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Chair in Peace Studies. Lopez's research interests focus primarily on the problems of state violence and coercion, especially economic sanctions, gross violations of human rights, and ethics and the use of force.
His work has been published in a wide range of social science journals including Human Rights Quarterly, International Studies Quarterly, Journal of International Affairs, The International Journal of Human Rights, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, and Ethics and International Affairs. With Michael Stohl, he edited and contributed to 5 books and numerous journal articles on repression, gross violations of human rights, and state terror.
Working with David Cortright since 1992, he has written more than 25 articles and book chapters, as well as five books, on economic sanctions, including The Sanctions Decade: Assessing U.N. Strategies in the 1990s which was named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title in 2000. Towards Smart Sanctions: Targeting Economic Statecraft, co-edited with Cortright and Sanctions and the Search for Security, co-authored with Cortright both appeared in the spring of 2002. Their co-edited Uniting Against Terror (M.I.T., 2007) details their more recent work regarding sanctions as tools of counterterrorism.
With Michael Brzoska, Lopez has edited and contributed to Putting Teeth in the Tiger: Improving the Effectiveness of Arms Embargoes (Emerald Press, 2009). As a Senior Jennings Randolph Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C. for 2009-10, Lopez is researching and writing a book tentatively titled Can Sanctions Survive?
With Cortright and Alistair Millar, Lopez wrote "Winning Without War: Sensible Security Options for Dealing with Iraq" in October 2002. This policy brief was called the most influential document for those favoring an alternative to war with Iraq. Lopez and Cortight’s research detailing the unlikely presence of WMDs in Iraq was detailed before the war in “Disarming Iraq” in Arms Control Today (Sept. 2002) and then further articulated after the war in “Containing Iraq: the Sanctions Worked” in Foreign Affairs (July/August, 2004).
Lopez’s investigation of U.N. sanctions on Iraq began in 1993 when he was asked to assist the UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs to develop methodologies for assessing sanctions impact. With Cortright he also observed closely the development of SCR 986 (April, 1995), which established the Oil-for-Food Program and played a significant role in the development of what became SCR 1409 (May, 2002) the smart sanctions package that further liberalized the Oil-for-Food program. In 2005 and 2006 he testified before relevant U.S. Congressional Committees regarding corruption and other issues within the U.N. Oil-for-Food program.
Lopez has served in an advisory capacity to a number of foundations and organizations involved in human rights, international affairs education, and peace research. From 1988 through 1998, he chaired the Selection Committee of the Research and Writing Grants Committee of the MacArthur Foundation's Program in Peace and International Cooperation. From May 1-December 31, 1997, he served as Interim Executive Director of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and chaired their Board of Directors until June, 2003. In addition, in 2001-02 he was a senior research associate at the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs in New York City.
Since 2001 much of his writing has been devoted to debates “in the public square” regarding ethics and the use of force in the global war on terror, Iraq and elsewhere. His commentaries have been published in the New York Times, the LA Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe, the Christian Science Monitor, the Indianapolis Star and every month for 2005 and 2006 in La Opinion. Longer essays on these themes have appeared in Sojourners, America, and Commonweal magazines.
