Laurie Nathan

Professor of the Practice of Mediation; Mediation Program Director

Laurie Nathan

100 Hesburgh Center
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556

(215) 500-2616
Laurie.N.Nathan.4@nd.edu

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Laurie Nathan

Professor of the Practice of Mediation; Mediation Program Director

Expertise

Mediation; conflict resolution; preventive diplomacy; United Nations peacemaking; African regional security

At the Keough School

Laurie Nathan is director of the Mediation Program in the Keough School’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. The mediation program serves as an international center of excellence for mediation research, training, policy, and practice.

Courses

Biography

Nathan earned his PhD from the University of Cape Town. He has been a senior mediation advisor to the United Nations, served on the UN Academic Advisory Council on Mediation in 2012-18 and since 2013 has been 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 has been a consultant 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 United Nations, as well as with the governments of Germany, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

Nathan has served on the Carter Centre’s International Council for Conflict Resolution and the Board of Directors of Conciliation Resources. He has also 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 professor and director of the Centre for Mediation in Africa at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, and director of the Centre for Conflict Resolution at the University of Cape Town.

He 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 over 50 articles and chapters.

Recent Work

  • Govinda Clayton, Laurie Nathan & Claudia Wiehler (2021) Ceasefire Success: A Conceptual Framework, International Peacekeeping, 28(3): 341-365.
  • Laurie Nathan (2020) The Real Deal? The Post-Conflict Constitution as a Peace Agreement, Third World Quarterly, 41(9): 1556-1574
  • Laurie Nathan (2020) The International Peacemaking Dilemma: Ousting or Including the Villains? Swiss Political Science Review, 26(4): 468–486
  • Laurie Nathan (2019) When the Flames are Licking at the Door: Standing Mechanisms for Conflict Prevention, Global Policy, 10(2): 46-54
  • Laurie Nathan. (2018), The Mandate Effect: A Typology and Conceptualization of Mediation Mandates. Peace and Change, 43: 318-343
  • Policy Report: Laurie Nathan, Adam Day, Joao Honwana & Rebecca Brubaker (2018) Capturing UN Preventive Diplomacy Success: How and Why Does it Work?
  • Book Chapter: Nathan L. (2022) The Post-conflict Constitution as a Peace Agreement. In: Mac Ginty R., Wanis-St. John A. (eds) Contemporary Peacemaking. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82962-9_22

News

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