Conflict, Humanitarianism, and Global Rivalry: An Interview with Professor Alex de Waal on Peacebuilding in Sudan and the Horn of Africa

Abstract

Alex de Waal is the Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation and Professor at the Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is one of the leading experts on Sudan and the Horn of Africa, having served on the mediation team for Darfur from 2005 to 2006 and on the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel for Sudan from 2009 to 2011. Professor de Waal has also worked for several human rights organizations and the Social Science Research Council. His 2017 book, “Starvation: The History and Future of Famine,” explores the weaponization of starvation as a war tactic through a close examination of the history of modern famines. He was included in Foreign Policy’s list of the 100 most influential public intellectuals in 2008 and named one of Atlantic Monthly’s 27 “brave thinkers” in 2009. Additionally, he received the Royal Anthropological Institute’s Huxley Medal in 2024.