Edward Laurance
Office
McCone Building 124C
Tel
(831) 647-4144
Email
elauranc@middlebury.edu

One of the most critical challenges to development and indeed humanity is armed violence, especially in fragile states. This violence leads to death and injury, violations of human rights, lack of justice and the rule of law, lost productivity, lowering of already inadequate health budgets, and psychological costs. In short, development cannot proceed alongside such violence. I believe that this violence can and must be prevented, reduced and eventually eliminated. I have devoted most of my professional life to this end.

What excites me:

Teaching at a professional school such as MIIS allows me as a faculty member to help students prepare for a career in security and development work. It means that I get to make a difference, not just my graduates. It also means that I will have these students as colleagues when they graduate. I continue to be involved in mutual projects with them. I can’t think of anything more rewarding than this.

Areas of Interest

Armed violence reduction, research methods for development practitioners, global governance, international organizations, proliferation and effects of conventional weapons and small arms, program evaluation and project management

Programs

Academic Degrees

PhD, International Relations, University of Pennsylvania; MA, International Relations and Public Administration, Temple University; BS, United States Military Academy

Publications

“The Small Arms Problem as Arms Control: A Policy-Driven Research Agenda” in The State of Arms: Consolidation, Innovation and Relevance in Small Arms Research: Essays in Honour of Pablo Dreyfus, Eds: Kai Michael Kenkel and Peter Bachelor. London: Routledge, Summer 2013.

“Exposing the Arms Trade. A Book Review of The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade,” by Andrew Feinstein. In Arms Control Today, June 2012.

“1991 Arms Trade Control Efforts and Their Echoes” in Arms Control Today, July-August 2011.

The UNDP Role in the Comprehensive Approach to Security in Fragile States: An Assessment, Edward J. Laurance Version 5.1 10 June 2010.

“Managing the Tools of War and Violence: Global Governance or State-centric Realpolitik?” In Michael Brzoska and Axel Krohn (eds.) Overcoming Armed Violence in a Complex World: Essays in Honor of Herbert Wulf. Budrich UniPress Ltd. November 2009.

With Hendrik Wagenmakers and Herbert Wulf. “Managing the Global Problems Created by the Conventional Arms Trade: An Assessment of the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms,” Global Governance, Vol. 2, Spring 2005.

With Rachel Stohl. Making Global Public Policy: The Case of Small Arms and Light Weapons. Occasional Paper No. 7. Geneva: Small Arms Survey, December 2002.

The United Nations Conventional Arms Register (UNCAR): Present Challenges, New Directions.

“Light Weapons and Human Development: The Need for Transparency and Early Warning.” In Jeffrey Boutwell and Michael T. Klare, Light Weapons and Civil Conflict: Controlling the Tools of Violence (Boulder: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1999), pp. 185-196.

“Monitoring the Flow, Availability and Misuse of Light Weapons,” in Arms Watching: Integrating Small Arms and Light Weapons Into the Early Warning of Violent Conflict. Edward J. Laurance (Ed.) (London: International Alert, May 1999).

Arms Watching: Integrating Small Arms and Light Weapons into the Early Warning of Violent Conflict (Ed.) (London: International Alert, May 1999).

Light Weapons and Intra-State Conflict: Early Warning Factors and Preventive Action. (Washington: Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict, July 1998).

“Small Arms, Light Weapons, and Conflict Prevention: The New Post-Cold War Logic of Disarmament” in Barnett R. Rubin Cases and Strategies for Preventive Action (The Century Foundation Press, 1998), pp. 135-168.

“Moratoria on Small Arms and Light Weapons: Conceptualization and Application to Central America” in Sverre Lodgaard and Carsten F. Ronnfeldt, A Moratorium on Light Weapons in West Africa (Oslo: Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, 1998), pp. 69-83.

“A Conceptual Framework for Arms Trade Transparency in South-East Asia.” In Bates Gill and J.N. Mak (eds.), Arms Transparency and Security in South-East Asia. SIPRI Research Report No. 13. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), pp. 10-24.

With Sarah E. Meek. The Role of Conventional Arms Buildups in the Outbreak of Conflict: Developing Early Warning and Preventive Measures. Report submitted to the United States Institute for Peace in fulfillment of grant SG-94-113. July 1996.

With Sarah E. Meek. The New Field of Micro-Disarmament: Addressing the Proliferation and Buildup of Small Arms and Light Weapons. Brief 7. (Bonn: Bonn International Center for Conversion, September 1996).

“The Role of Arms Control in Coping With Conflict after the Cold War.” in Roger Kanet and Edward Kolodziej (Eds.), Coping With Conflict after the Cold War. (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996), pp. 331-362.

“Addressing the Negative Consequences of Light Weapons Trafficking: Opportunities for Transparency and Restraint.” in Jeffrey Boutwell, Michael Klare and Laura Reed, Editors, Lethal Commerce: The Global Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons. (Cambridge: American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1995), pp. 140-57.

“The UN Register of Conventional Arms: Rationales and Prospects for Compliance and Effectiveness,” The Washington Quarterly , (Spring 1993).

“Reducing the Negative Consequences of Arms Transfers Through Unilateral Arms Control.” in Bennett Ramberg (Ed.) Arms Control without Negotiation: From the Cold War to the New World Order. (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1993), pp. 175-198

With Siemon Wezeman and Herbert Wulf. Arms Watch: SIPRI Report on the First Year of the UN Register of Conventional Arms. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, November 1993).

The International Arms Trade. (New York: Lexington Books, 1992).

“The Political Implications of Illegal Arms Exports From the United States.” Political Science Quarterly, 107, 3 (Fall 1992), 501-533.

“Events Data and Policy Analysis: Improving the Potential for Applying Academic Research to Foreign and Defense Policy Problems.” Policy Sciences , 23,1(1990).

“The New Gunrunning.” Orbis (Spring 1989), 225-237.

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