Features

October 2008

David Hamburg: Preventing Genocide

Anyone who knows Professor Hamburg's life and work will say in a resounding voice, ‘No one is better qualified to show, as he does in this lucid and well-documented book, what to do, what non-violent pressures to use, in order to stop a menace whose deadly shadow already broods over the new-born 21st century.' -- Elie Wiesel

In Preventing Genocide: Practical Steps toward Early Detection and Effective Action, Dr. David Hamburg uses a multi-disciplinary approach to address the problem of mass violence from the standpoint of prevention, with illustrative case histories to identify predisposing and precipitating conditions that long antedate every genocide as well as the opportunities missed to remedy them; he describes essential pillars of prevention--including international justice--that must be built and maintained to reduce the risk of genocide; and he discusses the tools and international institutions that can best be used to resist mass violence today, before the violence begins. Special attention is given to two emerging centers, in the United Nations and in the European Union, that will pool resources and knowledge in ways to recognize early warnings of violence and link them with an appropriate response. 

David A. Hamburg is DeWitt Wallace Distinguished Scholar at Weill Cornell Medical College. He is President Emeritus at Carnegie Corporation of New York, where he served as president from 1982 to 1997. A medical doctor, Hamburg has a long history of leadership in the research, medical, and psychiatric fields. He has been a professor at Stanford University and Harvard University, President of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, and President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

He was a member of the United States Defense Policy Board with Secretary of Defense William Perry and co-chair with former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance of the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict. The Commission published many books and monographs in its five-year life (1994-99), covering diplomatic, political, economic and military aspects of prevention.  Distinguished scholars and practitioners contributed on a worldwide basis. 

He was a member of President Bill Clinton's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology.   Most recently, Dr. Hamburg chaired two parallel committees at the United Nations and European Union on the prevention of genocide - one reporting directly to the UN Secretary-General and the other to Javier Solana, Secretary General of the Council of the European Union.

A founding board member of the ICTJ, Dr. Hamburg also serves on the Advisory Board of the Center for Preventive Action of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Advisory Council of Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies, the Harvard International Advisory Council and is Distinguished Presidential Adviser on International Affairs, National Academy of Sciences. He is the author of Today's Children: Creating a Future for a Generation in Crisis (1992); No More Killing Fields: Preventing Deadly Conflict (2002); and Learning to Live Together: Preventing Hatred and Violence in Child and Adolescent Development (2004).  His current book, Preventing Genocide: Practical Steps toward Early Detection and Effective Action was published in spring 2008.

Dr. Hamburg has received numerous awards including the Foreign Policy Association's Medal, the Sarnat Mental Health Award of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences Public Welfare Medal (its highest award), and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the highest civilian award of the United States).