Dan Smith

POSITION AT SIPRI

Director

Dan Smith

Dan Smith is the Director of SIPRI. He has a long record of research and publication on a wide range of conflict and peace issues. Among other issues, he has studied and written on the relationship between climate change and insecurity, peace and security issues in the Middle East, peacebuilding, the ethics of forcible intervention in conflicts, gender and conflict, nuclear arms control and strategy, and global conflict drivers, dynamics and trends.

Smith served four years in the UN Peacebuilding Fund Advisory group, two of which (2010–2011) were as Chair. He has an intimate knowledge of how peacebuilding works (or doesn’t) in a wide variety of countries and regions.

He was part-time Professor of Peace and Conflict at the University of Manchester, attached to the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute from January 2014 to mid-2017 and continues with an Honorary Professorship today. He is the author of successive editions of atlases of politics, war and peace, and the Middle East and blogs on international politics at www.dansmithsblog.com.

He has lived most of his adult life in the UK with a 10-year spell in Norway. He has travelled professionally to more than 60 countries.

Subject expertise

Wide range of conflict and peace issues such as nationalism, identity politics, armed conflicts, ethics of intervention, gender aspects of conflict and peace building, relationship between climate change and insecurity

Regional expertise

Middle East, Africa

CONTACT Dan Smith

Languages

English, French

Education

Christ's College, Cambridge; BA June 1973 (MA January 1977) English Literature

Citizenship

United Kingdom

Affiliations

Chair, Advisory Group, UN Peacebuilding Fund, 2010–11
Member, Advisory Group, UN Peacebuilding Fund, 2007–9
Chair, Institute for War & Peace Reporting, London, 1992–2006

SIPRI COMMENTARY

Joe Biden’s arms control ambitions are welcome—but delivering on them will not be easy (Essay, January 2021)
The 50th ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (Expert comment, October 2020)
A breakdown in cooperation puts us all at risk (Essay, October 2020)
The US withdrawal from the Iran deal: One year on (Expert comment, May 2019)
Climate Security in times of geopolitical crises—what ways forward? (Blog, February 2019)

SIPRI AND PARTNER PUBLICATIONS

Krampe, F., van de Goor, L., Barnhoorn, A., Smith E. and Smith, D., Water Security and Governance in the Horn of Africa (SIPRI, Stockholm: March 2020)
Smith, D., Mobjörk, M., Krampe, F. et al, Climate Security: Making it #Doable (Clingendael and SIPRI: February 2019)
Delgado, C., Jang, S., Milante, G. and Smith, D., The World Food Programme’s Contribution to Improving the Prospects for Peace (SIPRI, Stockholm: June 2019)
Mobjörk, M. and Smith, D., Translating Climate Security Policy into Practice (Clingendael and SIPRI: March 2017)
Mobjörk, M., Smith, D. and Rüttinger, L., Towards a Global Resilience Agenda: Action on Climate Fragility Risks (Clingendael, adelphi and SIPRI: December 2016)
1. Introduction: International stability and human security in 2019 (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2020)
1. Introduction. International stability and human security in 2018 (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2019)
1. Introduction. International stability and human security in 2017 (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2018)
1. Introduction. International security, armaments and disarmament (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2016)
3. Armed conflict and instability in the Middle East and North Africa (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2017)
1. Introduction. International security, armament and disarmament (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2017)

External publications

Smith, D. and Krampe, F., Climate-Related Security Risks in the Middle East, in Anders Jägerskog, Michael Schulz, and Ashok Swain (eds.) Routledge Handbook on Middle East Security, London: Routledge (2019)
Smith, D., The State of the Middle East, 3rd, New Internationalist (2016); (2nd edn 2008: London, Earthscan; Berkeley/LA, UC California Press) (1st edition 2006)
Vivekananda J., Schilling J. and Smith D., ‘Understanding Resilience in Climate Change and Conflict Affected Regions of Nepal’, Geopolitics (2014)
Vivekananda J., Schilling J. and Smith D., 'Climate resilience in fragile and conflict-affected societies: concepts and approaches', Development in Practice, 24:4, 487-501(2014)
Smith, D., The State of the World Atlas (9th edition 2013: Oxford, New Internationalist; New York, Penguin) (8th edn 2008; 7th edn 2003)