Students Talk Security | Smart Sanctions 101: Strategic Economic Peacebuilding

Notre Dame International Security Center

Summary: Sanctions expert and Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies George A. Lopez draws on his extensive research and experience in sanctions design and peace building to explain the advantages and drawbacks of targeted economic sanctions as a diplomatic tool, particularly in how they enable the US to intervene in nuclear threats, corrupt regimes, and human rights abuses. Biography: George A. Lopez is the Hesburgh Chair in Peace Studies, Emeritus, at the Kroc Institute, University of Notre Dame. Lopez's research and consultancy work focuses on economic sanctions, human rights, and various aspects in peacebuilding. Since 1992, Lopez has advised various international agencies and governments regarding sanctions issues, ranging from limiting their humanitarian impact to the design of targeted financial sanctions. He has written more than 40 articles and book chapters, as well as authored/ edited eight books, often with David Cortright of the Keough School, on economic sanctions. He frequently publishes op-eds on economic sanctions. From October, 2010 - July, 2011, he served on the United Nations Panel of Experts for monitoring and implementing UN Sanctions on North Korea. From September 2013 – July 2015 he was Vice President at the United States Institute for Peace in Washington, D.C.