Laurie Nathan
Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Keough School of Global Affairs
Professor of the Practice of Mediation, Mediation Program Director
- Mediation
- Conflict resolution
- Preventive diplomacy
- United Nations peacemaking
- African regional security
Nathan in the News
Mail & Guardian
South Africa’s SADC’s moment
July 30, 2026
In 2012, Laurie Nathan, author of Community of Insecurity: SADC’s Struggle for Peace and Security in Southern Africa, argued that SADC states’ unwillingness to surrender a measure of sovereignty to regional structures and embrace a collective security regime encompassing formal rules, binding decision-making and the possibility of interference in domestic affairs has deeply impaired the bloc’s effectiveness on peace and security issues.
The New York Times
Cease-Fires, but No Peace
June 09, 2026
The term seems straightforward. It’s a cease-fire. The firing that once constituted a war? That’s ceased. Right? In reality, that’s almost never the case. I spoke to Laurie Nathan, a professor at Notre Dame who has been a U.N. senior mediation adviser and a mediator in cease-fire negotiations. He told me that cease-fires were pretty much always violated.
NPR | Air Talk with Larry Mantle
What does the US and Iran ceasefire entail?
Audio
May 15, 2026
Joining us are Phil Stewart, Chief National Security reporter for Reuters, and Laurie Nathan, professor of the practice of mediation and director of the Kroc Institute’s mediation program at the University of Notre Dame.
OSV News
Scholar: World order under attack from great powers’ ‘raw exercise of military power’
April 10, 2026
Hours after U.S. President Donald Trump called off his threat to destroy Iran’s “whole civilization” and agreed to a two-week ceasefire, OSV News spoke with conflict resolution scholar Laurie Nathan of the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
The African
OPINION: Achieving a Genuine Ceasefire in Gaza: Lessons from Other Ceasefires
January 07, 2026
By Laurie Nathan, Director of the Mediation Program of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame.
Just Security
Implementing the Gaza Ceasefire
November 21, 2025
By Laurie Nathan, Director of the Mediation Program of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame.
Geneva Solutions
What it takes to negotiate a successful ceasefire – and make it last
October 17, 2025
If Colombia’s peace process underscored the value of patience and local leadership, Darfur’s exposed the pitfalls of foreign pressure. There, efforts to end a brutal conflict were constrained by multiple challenges, including timelines set by outside actors, explained Laurie Nathan, director of the mediation programme at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame.
The New York Times
Why Wars Don’t End Anymore
August 18, 2025
“Broadly speaking, we are in a historical, global pushback against the liberal peace that prevailed for 10 to 15 years,” said Laurie Nathan, who has been a U.N. mediation adviser and is a professor at Notre Dame.
Daily Maverick (South Africa)
OPINION | Let’s have a National Dialogue on ‘revitalised reconciliation’ and closing the wealth gap
July 21, 2025
By Laurie Nathan, Professor of the Practice of Mediation at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame. He was previously executive director of the Centre for Conflict Resolution at the University of Cape Town, and Director of the Centre for Mediation in Africa at the University of Pretoria.
NPR
Ceasefire in Middle East extended one day at a time
November 30, 2023
Can mediation help deliver a longer truce? Here & Now‘s Scott Tong talks with Laurie Nathan, director of the Mediation Program at Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, about the possibilities and limitations of mediation.
The Conversation
What would it take for a cease-fire to happen in Gaza?
November 21, 2023
By Laurie Nathan, Professor of the Practice of Mediation, University of Notre Dame.
The Conversation
Russia’s war in Ukraine: how South Africa blew its chance as a credible mediator
April 13, 2022
Laurie Nathan, Professor of the Practice of Mediation, University of Notre Dame.
America
Were Orthodox Christians massacred in Ethiopia?
January 29, 2021
Laurie Nathan, the director of the mediation program at the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, describes the report of a massacre in Axum as credible, though unverified.