Cynthia J. Arnson

Cynthia J. Arnson Director, Latin American Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. "As director of the Project on Comparative Peace Processes in Latin America, she has focused intensively in recent years on Colombia, and has written and lectured frequently on issues of the peace process and U.S. policy. She has also written extensively on Central America, U.S. policy in Latin America, and human rights issues. She is a member of the editorial advisory board of Foreign Affairs en Español and a member of the advisory board of Human Rights Watch/Americas. Prior to joining the Wilson Center, Arnson was Associate Director of Human Rights Watch/Americas, with responsibility for Colombia, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. She has also served as Assistant Professor of international relations at The American University's School of International Service and as a senior foreign policy aide in the House of Representatives during the Carter and Reagan administrations. She graduated magna cum laude from Wesleyan University and has an M.A. and Ph.D. from The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. Dr. Arnson recently celebrated her 10th anniversary with the Woodrow Wilson Center."


 * Member, Human Rights Watch Americas Advisory Committee
 * Former member, Independent Task Force on Columbia
 * Former Advisory Board member, Central America Papers Project

Major Publications

 * Rethinking the Economics of War: The Intersection of Need, Creed, and Greed, co-editor, (Woodrow Wilson Center Press, The Johns Hopkins Univeristy Press, 2005) edited with I. William Zartman


 * "Conflict in Colombia: Political and Economic Dimensions," in Monica Serrano, ed., Crisis in the Andes: Managing Regional Order (forthcoming, 2005)


 * "Third Parties and Intractable Conflicts: The Case of Colombia," in Chester Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson, and Pamela Aall, eds., Grasping the Nettle: Analyzing Cases of Intractability (United States Institute of Peace Press, forthcoming 2004)


 * "U.S. Policy and the Peace Process in Colombia," in Christopher Welna and Gustavo Gallón, eds., Democracy, Human Rights, and Peace in Colombia (University of Notre Dame Press, forthcoming, 2005)


 * "Frozen Negotiations: The Peace Process in Chiapas," with Andrew Selee and Raul Benítez Manaut, Todd Eisenstadt, ed., Challenges to Mexico's Democratic Consolidation (forthcoming 2005)


 * Peace and Security in Colombia,co-editor, (Woodrow Wilson Center, United States Institute of Peace, International Crisis Group, 2003)


 * Comparative Peace Processes in Latin America, editor (Stanford University Press, 1999)


 * Crossroads: Congress, the President, and Central America, 1976-1993 (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993)


 * Chiapas: el desafío de la paz, co-editor