Dr. Laurie Nathan

I joined the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science as a research fellow at the end of 2005 and convene the Honours module on Understanding and Managing Conflict. My main research affiliation is with the Crisis States Research Centre at LSE.

Current Teaching: EGS4037Z - Understanding and Managing Conflict

Research Interests

I am interested in the causes, prevention and resolution of civil wars in Africa. This entails studying the structural causes of state crisis; regional security regimes and dynamics; and mediation and other forms of peacemaking. I am also interested in security sector reform and have had extensive experience as a policy adviser to the South African government and other governments in this area.

Publications

Books

• Nathan, L. (1994) The Changing of the Guard: Armed Forces and Defence Policy in a Democratic South Africa. Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council
• Nathan, L. (1990) Out of Step: War Resistance in South Africa. London: Catholic Institute for International Relations
• Cock, J. and Nathan, L. (eds) (1989) War and Society: The Militarisation of South Africa. Cape Town: David Philip and New York: St Martins Press

Chapters in books

• Nathan, L. (2004) Mediation and the African Union's Panel of the Wise, in Field, S. (ed) Peace in Africa: Towards a Collaborative Security Regime. Johannesburg: Institute for Global Dialogue, pp. 63-80
• Nathan, L. (2002) Organ Failure: A Review of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security, in Laakso, L. (ed) Regional Integration for Conflict Prevention and Peace Building in Africa: Europe, SADC and ECOWAS. Helsinki: Department of Political Science, University of Helsinki, pp. 62-102
• Nathan, L. (2001) Undue Pressure: International Mediation in African Civil Wars, in Reychler, L. and Paffenholz, T. (eds) Peacebuilding: A Field Guide. Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner, pp. 184-198
• Nathan, L. (2001) Healing Divided Societies: Sharing Lessons and Experiences, in Villa-Vicencio, C. and Savage, T. (eds) Rwanda and South Africa in Dialogue: Addressing the Legacies of Genocide and a Crime Against Humanity. Cape Town: Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, pp. 125-127
• Nathan, L. (1998) The 1996 Defence White Paper: An Agenda for State Demilitarisation, in Cock, J. and McKenzie, P. (eds) From Defence to Development: Redirecting Military Resources in South Africa. Cape Town: David Philip, pp. 41-59
• Nathan, L. (1996) Civil-Military Relations in the New South Africa, in Gutteridge, W. (ed) South Africa's Defence and Security into the 21st Century. Aldershot: Dartmouth, pp. 87-109
• Nathan, L. (1994) Revisiting Security, in Minnaar, A. Liebenberg, I. and Schutte, C. (eds) The Hidden Hand: Covert Operations in South Africa. Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council, pp. 375-389
• Nathan, L. (1994) The Creation of a National Peacekeeping Force in South Africa, in Garba, J.N. (ed) Restructuring the Security Forces for a New South Africa. New York: Institute for International Education, pp. 34-44
• Nathan, L. (1993) From a Police Force to a Police Service: The New Namibian Police, in Mathews, M., Heymann, P. and Mathews, A. (eds) Policing the Conflict in South Africa. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, pp. 121-130
• Nathan, L. and Philips, M. (1992) Cross-Currents: Security Developments under FW de Klerk, in Moss, G. and Obery, I. (eds) South African Review 6: From `Red Friday' to Codesa. Johannesburg: Ravan, pp. 112-127
• Nathan, L. (1992) Human Rights, Reconciliation and Conflict in Independent Namibia: The Formation of the Namibian Army and Police Force, in Rupesinghe, K. (ed) Internal Conflicts and Governance. London: MacMillan, pp. 152-168
• Nathan, L. (1989) Troops in the Townships, in Cock, J. and Nathan, L. (eds) War and Society: The Militarisation of South Africa. Cape Town: David Philip and New York: St Martins Press, pp. 67-78
• Nathan, L. (1989) Marching to a Different Beat: The History of the End Conscription Campaign, in Cock, J. and Nathan, L. (eds) War and Society: The Militarisation of South Africa, pp. 308-323

Articles in accredited journals

• Nathan, L. (2006) SADC's Uncommon Approach to Common Security, 1992-2003, Journal of Southern African Studies 32(3), pp. 605-622 (forthcoming)
• Nathan, L. (2006) Domestic Instability and Security Communities, European Journal of International Relations 12(2), pp. 275-299
• Nathan, L. (2005) Consistencies and Inconsistencies in South Africa's Foreign Policy in Africa, International Affairs 81(2), pp. 361-372
• Nathan, L. (2000) Up in Arms: A Critique of the Conventional Arms Control Bill, South African Journal on Human Rights 16(4), pp. 703-713
• Nathan, L. (1995) Who Guards the Guardians? An Agenda for Civil-Military Relations and Military Professionalism in South Africa, Strategic Review for Southern Africa, 17(1), pp. 47-74
• Nathan, L. (1994) A New Approach to Security in Africa and Southern Africa, International Journal of Group Tensions, 24(1), pp. 23-41
• Nathan, L. (1994) With Open Arms: Confidence- and Security-Building Measures in Southern Africa, South African Journal of International Affairs, 1(2), pp. 110-126
• Nathan, L. (1993) Towards a Post-Apartheid Threat Analysis, Strategic Review for Southern Africa, 15(1), pp. 43-71
• Nathan, L. (1992) Towards a Conference on Security, Stability, Development and Co-operation in Africa, Africa Insight, 22(3), pp. 212-217
• Nathan, L. and Phillips, M. (1991) South African Security Policy and Security Forces in Transition, Social Justice, 18(1-2)

Other academic articles

• Nathan, L. (2005) The Frightful Inadequacy of Most of the Statistics: A Critique of Collier and Hoeffler on Causes of Civil War, Discussion Paper Series, 11, Crisis States Research Centre, London School of Economics
• Nathan, L. (2004) An Uncommon Approach to Common Security in Southern Africa, African Renaissance, 1(3), pp. 90-94
• Nathan, L. (2004) Security Communities and the Problem of Domestic Instability, Working Paper Series, 1(55), Crisis States Research Centre, London School of Economics
• Nathan, L. (2004) The Absence of Common Values and Failure of Common Security in Southern Africa, 1992-2003, Working Paper Series, 1(50), Crisis States Research Centre, London School of Economics
• Nathan, L. (2004) Accounting for South Africa's Successful Transition to Democracy, Discussion Paper, 5, Crisis States Research Centre, London School of Economics
• Nathan, L. (2004) Obstacles to Security Sector Reform in New Democracies, Journal of Security Sector Management, 2(3). Republished in McCartney, C., Fischer M. and Wils, O. (eds) (2004), Security Sector Reform: Potentials and Challenges for Conflict Transformation, Berghof Handbook Dialogue Series, 2, pp. 29-33; and in Mirador de Seguridad, Instituto de Estudios Estrategicos y Politicas Publicas, Managua, February 2005, pp. 1-5
• Nathan, L. (2000) The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: The Structural Causes of Crisis and Violence in Africa, Peace and Change, 25(2), pp. 188-207. Republished as an Occasional Paper of Track Two, 2001, 10(2), Centre for Conflict Resolution; and in Batchelor, P. and Kingma, K. (eds) (2004), Demilitarisation and Peace-Building in Southern Africa: Concepts and Processes, vol. 1. Aldershot: Ashgate, pp. 41-58
• Nathan, L. (1999) When Push Comes to Shove: The Failure of International Mediation in African Civil Wars, Track Two Occasional Paper, 8(2)
• Nathan, L. (1998) A South African Policy Framework on Peace Initiatives in Africa, Southern African Political and Economic Monthly, 11(3), pp. 25-30. Republished in Journal of Humanitarian Assistance, March 1998
• Nathan, L. (1998) Good Governance, Security and Disarmament in Africa, African Journal of Political Science, 3(2), pp. 69-79
• Nathan, L. and Honwana, J. (1995) After the Storm: Common Security and Conflict Resolution in Southern Africa, The Arusha Papers: A Working Series on Southern African Security, 3, Centre for Southern African Studies, University of the Western Cape
• Nathan, L. (1991) The Joker in the Pack: The South African Security Forces in Transition, Peace Review, 3(4), pp. 41-46
• Nathan, L. (1991) Riding the Tiger: The Integration of Armed Forces and the Post-Apartheid Military, Southern African Perspectives, 10
• Nathan, L. (1991) Marching to a Different Drum: A Description and Assessment of the Formation of the Namibian Police and Defence Force, Southern African Perspectives, 4

Principal drafter of official documents

• Southern African Development Community (2001) Protocol on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation
• Department of Defence, Republic of South Africa (1996) Defence in a Democracy: White Paper on National Defence for the Republic of South Africa
• Cameron Commission of Inquiry (1995) First Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Alleged Arms Transactions between Armscor and one Eli Wazan and Other Related Matters (with Mr Justice E. Cameron)
• Cameron Commission of Inquiry (1995) Second Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Alleged Arms Transactions between Armscor and one Eli Wazan and Other Related Matters