Peter Wallensteen

Professor emeritus at Department of Peace and Conflict Research

Telephone:
+46 18 471 23 52
E-mail:
Peter.Wallensteen@pcr.uu.se
Visiting address:
Gamla Torget 3, 1tr
753 20 Uppsala
Postal address:
Box 514
751 20 UPPSALA

Download contact information

CV:
Download CV

Short presentation

Dag Hammarskjöld Professor Emeritus, since 2023.

Senior Professor of Peace and Conflict Research, 2012-2023.

Dag Hammarskjöld Professor of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University 1985-2012.

Richard G. Starmann Sr. Research Professor of Peace Studies, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, IN, USA, 2006-2018, Emeritus thereafter.

Member, Advisory Board, Kroc Institute, 2019-

Member, Vice Chair, Board, Alva Myrdal Centre for Nuclear Disarmament, 2021-.

Keywords

  • conflict resolution
  • mediation
  • quality peace
  • international sanctions
  • conflict prevention
  • global governance
  • united nations
  • peace agreements
  • causes of war

Biography

Peter Wallensteen:

Peter Wallensteen is now Emeriius Professor of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University (since 2023) and Richard G. Starmann Sr. Research Emeritus Professor of Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute, University of Notre Dame, USA (since 2019). From 1985 to 2012 Wallensteen was the first holder of the Dag Hammarskjöld Chair in Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University. He was also the Head of Department from 1972-1999, thus being heavily involved in the creation in all aspects of the Department.

Prior to this he was setting up (together with Lena Wallensteen and Bo Schiller) the first courses in Development Studies, and leading the unit for its first years.

In addition to the affiliations with Uppsala University and the University of Notre Dame he he has been an Associate of the Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala, a Senior Research Fellow of the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, Uppsala, and a government appointed member of the Advisory Council (Insynsrådet) of the Folke Bernadotte Academy (ended 2023).

Research:

From 1978 to 2015 he directed the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) and a number of his publications build on the work within this program. One example is the book Understanding Conflict Resolution which now is in its sixth, revised edition (Sage, 2023, also in Arabic and Korean). It is used in teaching world-wide.

Together with the present Dag Hammarskjöld Professor, Isak Svensson, he published The Go-Between on mediation experiences (USIP Press 2010) and their book on Nordic mediators Fredens Diplomater (Diplomats of Peace, in Swedish) came out in 2016. In their 2025 book The Peacemaking Mandate they deepen the understanding of mediation in armed conflicts.

A summary of Wallensteen's work is the volume Peter Wallensteen. Pioneer in Making Peace Researchable (Springer 2021).

Among his publications note Quality Peace (Oxford University Press 2015), which broadens the perspective on post-war peacebuilding. With Madhav Joshi, the edited book Understanding Quality Peace (Routledge 2018) further this through general studies and case analyses. This relates in particular to his association with the Kroc Institute, University of Notre Dame, where there has been a close collaboration between UCDP and the Peace Accords Matrix, PAM.

With Ambassador and Visiting Fellow Anders Bjurner he edited Regional Organizations in Peacemaking (Routledge 2014), which asks the question whether regional organizations constitute challenges to the United Nations.

His Peace Research: Theory and Practice (Routledge 2011, in Chinese 2014) brings together his work on war causes, conflict resolution, sanctions and academic diplomacy.

Wallensteen’s first research concerned economic sanctions and he continues to be engaged in this issue. In 2001-2003 the Department and Wallensteen led an inter-governmental effort to reform UN sanctions and making targeted sanctions work more effectively. This work has been pursued by Wallensteen together with Dr. Armend Bekaj at the Alva Myrdal Centre, connecting sanctions to non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Teaching:

In Uppsala the course Classics in Peace Research is regularly offered to the new Ph.D. candidates, most recently in the spring of 2025.

At Notre Dame the course International Peace Research: Origins, Methodologies, Results, was initially offered for Master students (in 2006) but then moved to the Ph.D. level, until 2018.

Wallensteen is a guest lecturer at a host of other courses, as invited by the teachers.

A special commitment has been the Philosophy Tea sessions, given 2-3 times each semester at the Regina Theatre, Reginateatern, Uppsala, discussing different philosophers, writers or practitioners that have contributed to peace thinking through the ages. This was initiated as part of the Uppsala Year of Peace, 2014, and continued until 2021. They are available at the Department's site for podcasts.

Other Assignments:

2016-21 he was the Inspector (Custodian), Västmanland-Dala Nation (Student Organization), Uppsala University,

The Department has recorded a lecture on the origins and developments of peace research globally and at Uppsala University with Professor Peter Wallensteen:

http://media.medfarm.uu.se/play/video/1894

Research

Presently Wallensteen follows the fields of mediation (with Isak Svensson), sanctions and verification (within the Alva Myrdal Centre).

The interest in sanctions is pursued with Armed Bekaj. Together they edited a volume, published in 2024 on Sanctions for Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (Routledge).

Peter Wallensteen

Publications

Recent publications

All publications

Articles in journal

Articles, review/survey

Books

Chapters in book

Collections (editor)

Conference papers

Conference proceedings (editor)

Reports

Other

FOLLOW UPPSALA UNIVERSITY ON

Uppsala University on Facebook
Uppsala University on Instagram
Uppsala University on Youtube
Uppsala University on Linkedin