Paris, Roland 1967–

PERSONAL:

Born June 29, 1967, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; married; wife's name Katie; children: three. Education: University of Toronto, B.A., 1989; Cambridge University, M.Phil., 1990; Yale University, Ph.D., 1999.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Office—University of Ottawa, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, 55 Laurier Ave. E., Rm. 11121, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Johns Hopkins University, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Washington, DC, visiting researcher, 1997-98; University of Colorado, Boulder, assistant professor, 1999-2003, 2006; Government of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, foreign policy advisor, 2003-05, Privy Council Office staff member, 2004-05, Department of Foreign Affairs staff member, 2003-04; Conference Board of Canada, Ottawa, director of research, 2005-06; University of Ottawa, Ottawa, associate professor of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, 2006—, University Research Chair in International Security and Governance, 2007—, director of the Centre for International Policy Studies, 2007—. Codirector of the Research Partnership on Postwar Statebuilding. International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, Norway, Liberal Peace and Ethics of Peacebuilding project, advisory board member, 2007—.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Junior Faculty Development Award, University of Colorado Council on Research and Creative Work, 2002; Teacher of the Year, University of Colorado, 2002; Faculty Mentor Award, University of Colorado, 2003; Outstanding Teacher Award, University of Colorado, 2003; Environmental Conservation Award, Environment Canada, 2005; Group Merit Award, Privy Council Office, 2005; Eugene M. Kayden Award for best book manuscript, 2002, Chadwick F. Alger Award, International Studies Association, 2005, and Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order, 2007, all for At War's End: Building Peace after Civil Conflict. Grants from the University of Colorado, 2000, 2002, and Carnegie Corporation of New York, 2004, 2005, 2007.

WRITINGS:

At War's End: Building Peace after Civil Conflict, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2004.

(Editor, with Timothy Sisk) The Dilemmas of Statebuilding: Confronting the Contradictions of Postwar Peace Operations, Routledge (London, England), 2008.

Contributor to books, including Oxford Handbook of the United Nations, 2007; and The Iraq War and Its Consequences: Thoughts of Nobel Peace Laureates and Eminent Scholars, 2003. Contributor to journals, including International Security and International Studies Quarterly. Editor, with Fiona Adamson and Stefan Wolff, of the "Security and Governance" book series, Routledge, 2006—. Journal of Intervention and State-Building, editorial boardmember, 2006—.

SIDELIGHTS:

Roland Paris is a writer, editor, and scholar who specializes in foreign policy. Paris attended the University of Toronto, earning his B.A. in 1989, and going on to attend Cambridge University to earn his M.Phil. in 1990. Paris then received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1999. He began his career at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and then started working for the government of Canada in Ottawa as a foreign policy advisor. In 2006, he joined the University of Ottawa, working as an associate professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and as director of the Centre for International Policy Studies. Throughout his career, Paris has received several grants from the Carnegie Foundation, as well as teaching prizes from the University of Colorado, in addition to prizes for his government work. A contributor to prestigious journals such as International Security and the International Studies Quarterly, Paris is also the series coeditor of "Security and Governance." A prolific scholar, Paris has contributed to such books as Oxford Handbook of the United Nations and The Iraq War and Its Consequences: Thoughts of Nobel Peace Laureates and Eminent Scholars. Paris is also the coeditor of The Dilemmas of Statebuilding: Confronting the Contradictions of Postwar Peace Operations, which was published in 2008.

In a profile of the author posted on the University of Ottawa Web site, a biographer noted that much of Paris's work regards the "current troubles in Iraq and Afghanistan," which have shown "that conventional methods of international intervention aren't working." The biographer stated that "Dr. Paris proposes a new peacebuilding strategy, which is not only timely in a post 9/11 world but directly applicable to what has gone wrong in both Iraq and Afghanistan." Paris's first solely authored and full-length publication is At War's End: Building Peace after Civil Conflict. The book was published in 2004 and was widely reviewed and acclaimed. In a 2006 interview with Paris posted on the Canadian Broadcasting Company Web site, the author noted that part of the problem with the situation in Iraq stems from the fact that the country is not being treated as if it is in a civil war, but rather as if it is under a terrorist threat. Paris noted that "a civil war suggests a deeply rooted conflict that is self-perpetuating and for which there is no easy solution. And that's not the message that the White House or even the people in charge in Iraq want to convey. They want to frame the conflict as criminal or terrorist activity rather than a civil war." Paris further commented: "To characterize violence as civil war has political effects in that it portrays the violence as deeply rooted. Those who have an interest in downplaying the seriousness of the violence would not want it characterized as a civil war. While those who have an interest in highlighting the seriousness of the violence would." This, in a sense, is why Paris wrote At War's End. He told the Canadian Broadcasting Company Web site interviewer: "My work is really focused on how to transform a fragile ceasefire into a stable peace and not on the resolution of ongoing conflicts." The author nevertheless noted that "in the case of Iraq there is no happy and obvious solution."

At War's End predominantly explores the problems inherent in peacebuilding as it is practiced today, particularly in regard to forcing democratization on countries that are still reeling from violence and political upheaval. Market reforms are also at issue. Paris feels that basic infrastructure is being neglected and that it needs to be addressed before democracy and market economies are installed. Indeed, it would seem that the current approach is putting the cart before the horse. This where the crux, and the solution, to Paris's argument lies. As Military Review contributor Mark Barkley stated: "Roland offers compelling arguments" on this front, urging policymakers to focus on "constructing the foundations of effective political and economic institutions before introducing electoral and market-oriented adjustment policies."

Paris's argument was well received, and the book won the Eugene M. Kayden Award for best book manuscript, the Chadwick F. Alger Award from the International Studies Association, and the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. According to Political Science Quarterly critic Roberto Belloni, the book is "the best analysis to date of one of the most important aspects of contemporary international politics." Belloni went on to state that "Paris's excellent work will quickly become the most authoritative source on this topic." Echoing these sentiments, African Studies Quarterly contributor Emilian Kavalski felt that Paris's work is "undoubtedly going to inspire additional enquiries into its issues." Kavalski went on to call the book "an excellent reference source for scholars of conflict studies as well as a repository of knowledge for anyone interested in the process and the context of civil wars."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

African Studies Quarterly, March 22, 2006, Emilian Kavalski, "No Peace, No War: An Anthropology of Contemporary Armed Conflicts," p. 71.

Choice, February 1, 2005, E. Conteh-Morgan, review of At War's End: Building Peace after Civil Conflict, p. 1095.

Chronicle of Philanthropy, January 25, 2007, "Awards."

Foreign Affairs, January 1, 2005, "No Size Fits All."

Journal of Third World Studies, September 22, 2006, Paul J. Magnarella, review of At War's End, p. 273.

Military Review, January 1, 2006, Mark Barkley, review of At War's End.

Political Science Quarterly, March 22, 2005, Roberto Belloni, review of At War's End, p. 142.

Survival, June 22, 2005, Richard Caplan, review of At War's End, p. 231; December 22, 2005, "Enforcing the Peace: Lessons from the Imperial Past," p. 172.

ONLINE

Canadian Broadcasting Company Web site,http://aix1.uottawa.ca/ (December 6, 2006), "Q&A: Conflict Expert Roland Paris on Whether Iraq Is in a Civil War."

University of Ottawa Web site,http://aix1.uottawa.ca/ (May 27, 2008), faculty profile.