PrintLawrence Woocher
Senior Program Officer, Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention
Lawrence Woocher is a senior program officer in the Institute’s Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention, where he focuses on early warning, conflict prevention, and the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities. He was a member of the executive committee and lead expert on early warning for the Genocide Prevention Task Force, co-chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Secretary of Defense William Cohen. He is also a lecturer at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.
Before joining the Institute in late 2006, Woocher was a research fellow at Columbia University’s Center for International Conflict Resolution and, concurrently, a consultant on early warning to the Office of the Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide. From 2004 to 2006 he served as program manager of Global Policy Programs at the United Nations Association of the USA.
From 2001 to 2003 he was a research associate/special projects manager at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Woocher received a master’s in public policy with a focus on international security and political economy from Harvard’s Kennedy School, and a bachelor’s in neuroscience from Brown University.
Publications:
- Preventing Genocide: An American and Global Imperative. UNA-USA E-newsletter (January 7, 2009).
- Preventing Genocide: A Blueprint for U.S. Policymakers. Final report of the Genocide Prevention Task Force (2008). (Contributing expert).
- The Effects of Cognitive Biases on Early Warning. Presented at the International Studies Association Annual Convention (2008).
- "Peace Operations and the Prevention of Genocide," Human Rights Review (2007).
- Early Warning for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities. Presented at the International Studies Association Annual Convention (2007).
- Developing a Strategy, Methods and Tools for Genocide Early Warning. Prepared for the Office of the Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide (2006).
- "Peacebuilding and Prevention," WFUNA Reform Forum (2006).
- Could President Bush Have Said More about Genocide? UNA-USA E-newsletter (February 6, 2006).
- The United Nations and American Public Diplomacy. UNA-USA E-newsletter (December 2005).
- "Deconstructing 'Political Will': Explaining the Failure to Prevent Deadly Conflict and Mass Atrocities," Journal of Public and International Affairs (2001).
- The Casamance question: an examination of the legitimacy of self-determination in southern Senegal. International Journal on Minority and Group Rights (2000).
Multimedia:
- VOA's interviews Woocher on Obama's speech to General Assembly on peace in Sudan (September 24, 2009).
- Australia’s ABC News Breakfast interviews Woocher on Obama’s inauguration and foreign policy challenges for the new administration (January 20, 2009).
- VOA’s On the Line interviews Woocher on preventing genocide (December 2008).
- A blueprint for improving U.S. government response to threats of genocide and mass atrocities. Voices on Genocide Prevention (December 11, 2008, MP3).
Resources & Tools
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How well does the international community work to prevent the outbreak of new wars? In a special report, "Preventing Violent Conflict: Assessing Progress, Meeting Challenges," USIP's Lawrence Woocher examines the current status of conflict prevention as an international norm and argues for enhanced global attention on conflict prevention strategy relative to more reactive responses, such as post-conflict rebuilding and resolving existing conflicts. |
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An online toolkit for peacemakers, negotiators, and other conflict management practitioners. |
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This strategic framework, one in a series of peacebuilding frameworks being developed by USIP, provides a sophisticated, but easily understandable way of conceptualizing conflict prevention. The framework is organized around a desired end state of "stable peace." The core of the framework is found in the leadership responsibilities and key objectives. The key objectives are divided into three broad, potentially complementary preventive strategies—mitigate global risks, mitigate societal risks, halt and reverse escalation—and a series of objectives under each. The framework is designed to be useful to a wide range of conflict prevention practitioners—from policymakers to local field workers. Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis, Early Warning & Conflict Prevention
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USIP has supported over 300 products, projects, and activities related to human rights and peacebuilding. From grants to fellowships, from training to education, from working groups to publications, the Institute strives to encourage more practice and scholarly work on the issue of human rights, and seeks to deepen understanding of the role human rights play in conflict and in peace. Issue Areas: Human Rights, Peacebuilding
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Events
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September 21, 2009
On 21 September, the United States Institute of Peace hosted a public event to help launch a new report from the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS), based at Concordia University, Mobilizing the Will to Intervene: Leadership and Action to Prevent Mass Atrocities. Video files of the event are now available on this page. Issue Areas: Early Warning & Conflict Prevention
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December 11, 2008
A public event co-sponsored with the American Academy of Diplomacy and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |
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May 21, 2008
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September 17, 2007
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