Laurie Nathan

Laurie Nathan joined the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies in 2018 as the director of its Mediation Program, which serves as an international center of excellence for mediation research, training, policy and practice.

Nathan has worked in a variety of capacities and roles over the course of his career, including as a senior mediation advisor to the United Nations, as a member on the UN Academic Advisory Council on Mediation from 2012 to 2018, and since 2013, as the lead designer and trainer of the UN High Level Mediation Course. He has participated in high-level peacemaking efforts in Africa and helped design the mediation units of the African Union and African sub-regional bodies. He also has consulted on mediation and related issues to the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States, the European Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the UN, as well as for the governments of Germany, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Switzerland, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Among the many boards on which he serves, or has previously served, are the Book Reviews Advisory Committee, International Affairs; the Editorial Advisory Board, African Affairs; the Advisory Board, International Panel on Social Progress; the Advisory Board, Journal of Peace Ethics; the Carter Centre’s International Council for Conflict Resolution, and the Board of Directors of Conciliation Resources. He also has been a member of the international advisory boards of the Centre for Resolution of International Conflict, University of Copenhagen; the Masters in Security Sector Management, Cranfield University; the Africa Peace Fellows Initiative of the Center for African Peace and Conflict Resolution, California State University, Sacramento; and the Oxford Research Group.

Prior to joining the Kroc Institute, Nathan was a professor and the director of the Centre for Mediation in Africa at the University of Pretoria in South Africa from 2011 to 2017. Before this, from 1992 to 2003, he directed the Centre for Conflict Resolution at the University of Cape Town, where he also earned his Ph.D. in Historical Studies in 2009.

Nathan is the author of four books, including Community of Insecurity: SADC’s Struggle for Peace and Security in Southern Africa and No Ownership, No Commitment: A Guide to Local Ownership of Security Sector Reform. He is also co-editor of two books and author of more than 50 articles and chapters.