George A. Lopez
Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies; Keough School of Global Affairs
The Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies
- Peace studies
- Economic sanctions
- Repression and human rights violations
- Ethics and the use of force
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Just Security
Turning Trump’s Peace Overtures into Sustainable Deals
September 19, 2025
By Peter J. Quaranto, Visiting Professor of the Practice and Distinguished Global Policy Fellow at the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, and George A. Lopez, the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute of the Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame.
Just Security
To Support Peace Efforts, the West Needs a Coordinated Way to Effectively Reduce Sanctions
February 27, 2025
By George A. Lopez, the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
Voice of America - Korea | Korean
First meeting of the multinational North Korea sanctions monitoring organization… “Supporting implementation of UN Security Council resolutions through publication of report”
February 22, 2025
George Lopez, professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame who served as the U.S. representative on the UN North Korea Sanctions Committee Panel of Experts from 2010 to 2011 and again from 2022 to 2023, said in a phone call with VOA on the 21st that one of the major achievements of this first MSMT meeting was that it confirmed that many countries still have a strong will to respond to North Korea's sanctions evasion.
Newsweek
How Will North Korea Respond to South Korea's Martial Law?
December 03, 2024
"Because this action by Yoon was unforeseen, we may not have an instant reaction from Kim Jong Un. If the martial law and emerging chaos in the South increases beyond today, expect Kim Jong-un to deny it has operatives in the South that sparked this action," said George A. Lopez, Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame, and Former Member of UN Panel of Experts for Sanctions on North Korea.
El Pais (Spanish)
The new US ambassador to the UN: The battering ram of Trump’s ‘Israel first’ policy
November 15, 2024
The reasons for Haley’s resignation were not made public, but George Lopez, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Notre Dame, points to a lack of zeal when it came to defending the policies of the first Trump administration.
Just Security
Will Renewed `Maximum Pressure’ Sanctions Yield Maximum Results? Not Likely.
November 15, 2024
By George A. Lopez, the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
Korea JoongAng Daily
Uncertainty looms for South Korea, US under second Trump presidency
November 07, 2024
Prof. George Lopez, an international relations professor at the University of Notre Dame, says the North’s priorities are now focused on “pleasing Putin by muscle flexing, as well as sparking more fear in regional neighbors.”
Voice of America
New body to monitor North Korea sanctions enforcement faces doubts about legitimacy
October 29, 2024
George Lopez, who served on the U.N. panel of experts from 2010 to 2011 and again from 2022 to 2023, said, "Russia and China will claim this new team is illegitimate" because they have increasingly "decided recently that these sanctions were unfair and illegitimate."
The National Interest
Kamala Harris' North Korea Strategy: Can Bold Moves Break the Stalemate with Kim Jong-un?
September 19, 2024
By George A. Lopez, the Hesburgh Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. He served on the United Nations Panel of Experts (1874) on North Korea for 2010-11 and 2022-23. He has written frequently about sanctions on North Korea and the search for peace on the peninsula.
The Hill
Trump says more tariffs will stop wars. Experts disagree.
September 11, 2024
George Lopez, professor emeritus of peace studies at the University of Notre Dame and a leading economic sanctions expert, said tariffs are even less effective than sanctions, the more widely used foreign policy tool that prohibits business with a targeted nation’s companies and individuals.
TRT World
Revamping US sanctions: Shifting from punishment to persuasion
August 09, 2024
By George A. Lopez, the Hesburgh Professor of Peace Studies, emeritus. He has worked on sanctions issues for thirty years and is co-creator of the project Advancing Humanitarianism through Sanctions Refinement (AHSR).
Aydinlik | Turkish
US’s bad habit: Sanctions make addiction worse
July 29, 2024
But from 2001 on, sanctions became more freely used by U.S. presidents to isolate nations around the world. Over time, the strategy shifted to West Asia and further east. “Smart sanctions were designed to be a tasting buffet where you could tailor a particular sanction to a country’s aggression and vulnerability,” George Lopez, a professor at the University of Notre Dame, told the newspaper.
The Washington Post
HOW FOUR U.S. PRESIDENTS UNLEASHED ECONOMIC WARFARE ACROSS THE GLOBE
July 25, 2024
“Smart sanctions were meant to be a buffet of choices where you fit the particular imposed sanction to the offense and vulnerability of the country,” said George Lopez, a sanctions scholar at the University of Notre Dame who is widely credited with helping to popularize the idea more than 20 years ago. “Instead, policymakers walked into the buffet and said, ‘I’m going to pile everything onto my plate.’”
El Confidencial (Spanish; Subscription Only)
Russia and North Korea sign mutual defense agreement in case of "aggression", a success for Kim Jong-un
June 21, 2024
“This pact, added to the evident flow of North Korean weapons to the Russian front in Ukraine, shows the extent to which each leader feels the pinch of global political and economic isolation,” George A. López, researcher at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, points out to this newspaper..
Just Security
Toward a Global Sanctions Compact for Long-Overdue Reform
June 18, 2024
George A. Lopez is the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
Voice of America - Asia (Korean)
Expert panel ‘alternative’…‘Securing legitimacy and multilateral sanctions’ necessary
May 16, 2024
George Lopez, Professor Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame, who served as a representative of the UN, discusses potential options of alternative organizations to replace the UN's North Korea Sanctions Committee expert panel, which ends its activities at the end of this month.
Daily Beast, HuffPost, Yahoo! News
Doubts Over Kristi Noem’s Alleged Meeting With Kim Jong Un: Report
May 02, 2024
“I don’t see any conceivable way that a single junior member of Congress without explicit escort from the U.S. State Department and military would be meeting with a leader from North Korea,” George Lopez, University of Notre Dame professor and expert on the rogue nation, told The Dakota Scout Thursday.
The Daily Beast
It May Be Too Late to Stop North Korea From Firing Nukes
May 29, 2023
Solid-fuel rockets could up the tempo in a time of heightened tensions. The new missiles would be “easier for the North to mobilize quickly for deployment and use in a major missile attack that could be used against Japan, South Korea, or the U.S.,” said George A. Lopez, a professor of peace studies at the University of Notre Dame.
NewScientist
Will bitcoin help or hinder Ukraine's fight against Russian invasion?
March 04, 2022
But George Lopez at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana says that any Russian oligarch using a Swiss bank – long a favourite storage option because of the country’s strict banking privacy laws – and hoping to cash in millions of dollars worth of bitcoin would be likely to appear on the radar of numerous watchful Western governments.
United Nations, with its hands tied before the invasion of Russia (Naciones Unidas, con las manos atadas ante la invasión de Rusia)
March 03, 2022
"There is a particular evil or cruelty in the fact that Russia was in charge of the Security Council in the discussions of a pre-war situation, at the same time that that country was starting the war," said the professor from the University of Notre Dame, George Lopez. The United Nations expert also emphasizes that this power gave Russia the opportunity to delay "decisions and actions." ("Hay una maldad o crueldad particular en el hecho de que Rusia estaba a cargo del Consejo de Seguridad en las discusiones de una situación de preguerra, en el mismo momento en el que ese país estaba empezando la guerra", anota a Público el profesor de la Universidad de Notre Dame, George Lopez. El experto en Naciones Unidas recalca, además, que este poder le dio a Rusia la oportunidad de retrasar "decisiones y acciones.")
The Hill
Unprecedented Western sanctions strangling Russian economy
February 28, 2022
“Everyone in the economic sphere, the banking sphere, knows we’re in new territory here—a coordinated shutdown of a country’s economy with the strongest arrow being in the heart of the banking sector,” said George Lopez, expert on economic sanctions at University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs.
The Conversation
US-EU sanctions will pummel the Russian economy – two experts explain why they are likely to stick and sting
February 27, 2022
David Cortright is affiliated with Win Without War. George A. Lopez is a Non-Resident Fellow with the Quincy Institute, Washington, D.C., and a U.S. Fulbright Senior Specialist in Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies, 2018-2023.
Russia To Pay For Putin's Ukraine Invasion With Higher Inflation, Weaker Ruble, Slower Growth
February 26, 2022
Washington has "essentially put VTB in a straitjacket," George Lopez, a sanctions expert, told RFE/RL. "It can't move money in or out of Russia."
Real Clear Politics
Democracy Now! Debate: Would U.S. Sanctions Bill On Russia Prevent Military Conflict Or Make War More Likely?
February 09, 2022
Meanwhile, George Lopez, professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame's Kroc Institute, says sanctions can act as an effective deterrent to Russian aggression.
Middle East Eye
'Weaponised inflation': US sanctions driving Iran's soaring prices, report says
January 26, 2022
"It's not just sanctions that keep pharmaceuticals off the shelf. It's through these intervening dynamics that really give us all of a sudden a new set of policy hooks to try to remedy some of this," George Lopez, a sanctions expert and professor at the University of Notre Dame, told MEE.
Los Angeles Times
Column: Can sanctions repel a Russian invasion of Ukraine?
January 25, 2022
“Targeted sanctions were supposedly going to focus narrowly on punishing the leaders most responsible for the terrible policies,” said George A. Lopez, a professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame.
The Hill
As Russia braces for battle, sanctions can still be a deterrent
January 21, 2022
George A. Lopez is professor emeritus at the Kroc Institute, University of Notre Dame and author/editor of six books and 40 articles on economic sanctions.
Inkstick Media
Time to recalibrate US sanctions for human rights
January 07, 2022
George A. Lopez is the Hesburgh Professor of Peace Studies emeritus, at the Kroc Institute of the University of Notre Dame.
Foreign Policy
Sunset for U.N. Sanctions?
October 20, 2021
“In my time, it was clear our young Chinese colleague was always bleary-eyed and tired because after a hard day of work on the panel, he was back on the phone at night with the Chinese authorities getting instructions,” said George Lopez, a professor emeritus at Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute who served on the North Korea panel in 2010 and 2011.
CNN
Fact-checking Psaki's claim that there 'have not been sanctions put in place' on foreign leaders even in recent past
March 01, 2021
George Lopez, a University of Notre Dame professor who previously sat on a United Nations expert panel for monitoring and implementing sanctions on North Korea, interpreted Psaki's claim more generously than Hufbauer and Beck did.
Texas Public Radio
How Will The Biden White House Tackle Foreign Policy, Diplomacy In The Wake Of Trump's 'America First' Agenda?
December 08, 2020
George Lopez, Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at Notre Dame.
The Hill
Joe Biden and new administration could restore economic sanctions
December 04, 2020
George Lopez is professor emeritus and a founding member with the Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame and is a nonresident fellow with the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
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