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Terrence Lyons

Terrence Lyons
Associate Professor of Conflict Resolution and Director of the Ph.D. program

Ph.D., International Relations, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, 1994
M.A., History, Michigan State University, 1985
B.A., History, University of Virginia, 1981

Biography

Terrence Lyons focuses his research on comparative peace processes and post-conflict politics, with a regional emphasis on Africa. His most recent scholarship asks how the nature of war termination shapes post-war politics and how some insurgent groups transform into political parties. He has written or co-written five books and co-edited a further four. His scholarship has appeared in such journals as Comparative Politics and International Political Sociology, as well as more policy-oriented publications such as the Journal of Democracy and the Washington Post.

Lyons maintains interests in policy relevant discussions. He has consulted with the Department of State, United States Agency for International Development, the United Nations, and key think tanks such as the Brookings Institution, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He has also served as an election observer in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Ghana, Benin, and Bangladesh and was the Senior Advisor to the Carter Center in Liberia and Ethiopia. In March 2017 he testified before the House Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health on the crisis in Ethiopia.

Lyons teaches classes such as the Introduction to Conflict Analysis, the undergraduate capstone class, and specialized seminars on contentious politics. He currently serves as Director of the Doctoral Program. 



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Awards and Honors
Fulbright Senior Specialist
In May 2016, Terrence Lyons will serve as a Fulbright Senior Specialist in Ethiopia. He will teach a course and advise graduate students at Bahir Dar University in northern Ethiopia.
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2016

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2012

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2012

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2011

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2007

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2007

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2002

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2002
Titlesort icon Semester
Understanding social conflict and potential for conflict resolution requires that both conflict and cooperation be...
Introduces field of conflict analysis and resolution for doctoral students. Examines definitions of conflict and...
This graduate seminar will investigate key questions related to some of the most vexing challenges of war and...
Compares case studies drawn from actual peace processes, both successful and unsuccessful, to illuminate principles...
Investigates a number of themes relating to war termination with an emphasis on contemporary civil wars. Considers...
Explores theories that define and explain social harmony and cooperation. Examines social institutions that manage...
Topics vary; they are announced each academic year.
Examines major theories of conflict causation and motivation. Emphasizes need for theories to inform processes of conflict resolution. Weaves...
Introduces field of conflict analysis and resolution. Examines definitions of conflict and diverse views of its...
Capstone course in which students reflect on what they have learned, integrating knowledge from course work and...
Examines selected topics relating to analysis or resolution of conflict. Topics vary but may include historical...
Covers conflict at macro level, introducing theories of international and global violence and conflict, drawing from...
Brief history of field, survey of key conflict resolution themes and theories, and intervention methods. Overview includes general factors of...
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Title Published Date
July 26, 2016
Why do victorious rebels sometimes form powerful postwar political parties and other times collapse into weak, factionalized organizations? This paper examines cases of rebel victories in civil wars in Africa and traces the links between war duration, the extent...
Category: Journal Article
April 24, 2016
In a number of cases, rebel movements that won civil wars transformed into powerful authoritarian political parties that dominated post-war politics. Parties whose origins are as victorious insurgent groups have different legacies and hence different...
Category: Journal Article
January 13, 2016
Ethiopia’s 2015 elections confirm that the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF)—having won 100 percent of parliamentary seats—has chosen to entrench an authoritarian system. We argue that this total election...
Category: Journal Article
January 01, 2016
What is the relationship between how a war ends and the post-war political order? Civil wars that end in rebel victory follow distinct war-to-peace transitions compared to the more often analyzed cases of negotiated settlement and internationally supported...
Category: Journal Article
October 14, 2015
All peace agreements are flawed, to varying degrees, because mistrustful parties sign under pressure to end humanitarian suffering. They generally include what they can, leave out what cannot be settled, and gloss over differences in an effort to stop the killing...
Category: Journal Article
May 29, 2012
Modern diasporas may seem far-flung and incohesive, but in fact they have an outsized impact on the politics of their homeland. Through a global range of case studies, this groundbreaking volume explores transnational diaspora politics and its effect on...
Category: Book
January 01, 2011
Category: Papers & Reports
November 2010
Political dynamics and outcomes around the globe have been trans- formed by globalization, new patterns of human mobility, and the devel- opment of innovative transnational social networks. These new political processes are rooted in communities and networks that...
Category: Journal Article
June 2010
The rise of diaspora politics poses a challenge to traditional approaches to foreign policymaking that tend to emphasize bilateral state-to-state relations, intergovernmental organizations, and NGOs organized around universal, humanitarian agendas. Whether trying...
Category: Papers & Reports
Summer 2010
Category: Journal Article
2010
Category: Book Chapter
June 2009
The Ethiopia-Eritrea border dispute is embedded within a set of domestic political conflicts in each state, is linked further through proxy conflicts to instability in Somalia and the Ogaden, and is skewed additionally by the application of Washington's global...
Category: Journal Article
2009
Category: Papers & Reports
September 01, 2008
Category: Book Chapter
May 2008
Category: Papers & Reports
March 24, 2008
What are the relationships between theory and practice in the processes of negotiations and conflict resolution? In what ways does theory inform practice and provide analytical maps for policymakers grappling with resolving intractable conflicts? How can African...
Category: Book
2008
Category: Papers & Reports
December 2007
Diaspora groups link processes of globalisation and transnational migration to homeland politics and conflicts. In some cases, diaspora groups produced by a specific set of traumatic memories create 'conflict-generated diasporas' that sustain and often amplify...
Category: Journal Article
December 2007
Book review of Towards a New Map of Africa, edited by Ben Wisner, Camilla Toulmin, and Rutendo Chitiga.
Category: Journal Article
February 28, 2007
The greater Horn of Africa—including Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda—is a region of strategic importance. It is also a region in crisis.Avoiding Conflict in the Horn of Africa: U.S. Policy Toward Ethiopia and Eritrea,...
Category: Book
2007
Category: Papers & Reports
2007
Political dynamics around the globe have been transformed by globalization, new patterns of human mobility, and the development of innovative transnational social networks. Processes of globalization have provided openings for new actors and issues to rise to...
Category: Papers & Reports
December 01, 2006
Introduction and Summary of Recommendations In 2006, the Horn of Africa witnessed major escalations in several conflicts, a marked deterioration of governance in critical states, and a general unraveling of U.S. foreign policy toward the strategically located...
Category: Papers & Reports
December 2006
Review of Peace Operations and Global Order, edited by Alex J. Bellamy and Paul Williams.
Category: Journal Article
April 2006
Category: Book Chapter
October 31, 2005
With the increasing use of elections as a tool for peacebuilding after civil war, the question of why some postconflict elections succeed and others fail is a crucial one. Tackling this question, Terrence Lyons finds the answer in the internal political dynamics...
Category: Book
March 2005
Category: Papers & Reports
June 2004
Post-conflict elections are called upon to advance the distinct processes of both war termination and democratization. This article examines the patterns in seven cases where elections served as the final step to implement a peace agreement following a period of...
Category: Journal Article
2004
Category: Book Chapter
2004
Category: Journal Article
August 01, 2003
Negotiation and mediation are the two third-party practices most commonly studied and used. We now turn to two equally important practices, both borrowed from other disciplines, and now applied to large-group, multi-party and organizational conflict: facilitation...
Category: Book Chapter
May 2003
Category: Papers & Reports
December 2002
Why do some peace agreements successfully end civil wars, while others fail? What strategies are most effective in ensuring that warring parties comply with their treaty commitments? Of the various tasks involved in implementing peace agreements, which are the...
Category: Book
December 2002
Category: Book Chapter
Summer 2002
Relief organizations and analysts of complex humanitarian emergencies recognized the essential linkages between war and hunger in the 1980s, building on the lessons learned from the famines in Sudan and Ethiopia. How can international donors and nongovernmental...
Category: Journal Article
April 2002
Category: Papers & Reports
February 2002
Outcomes of transitional periods after peace agreements to halt civil wars are critical to sustaining peace and providing the basis for a long-term process of democratization. Understanding these transitional processes and designing policies to promote successful...
Category: Papers & Reports
2002
Category: Book Chapter
October 01, 2001
Category: Book Chapter
July 01, 2001
This comprehensive treatment of the interplay between domestic and international politics analyzes efforts by African states to manage their external relations amid seismic shifts in the internal, regional, and global environments. The authors' nuanced analysis of...
Category: Book
October 1999
Category: Papers & Reports
July 1999
Category: Papers & Reports
May 1999
Review of Fault Lines: Journeys into the New South Africa, by David Goodman.
Category: Journal Article
May 1999
Review of African Guerrillas, edited by Christopher Clapham.
Category: Journal Article
April 01, 1999
Category: Papers & Reports
December 01, 1998
Elections have been used as a mechanism to institutionalize a new political order following internal conflict in Cambodia, El Salvador, Angola, Mozambique, Bosnia, and now Liberia. This book analyzes the Liberian transition and the July 1997 elections in order to...
Category: Book
October 01, 1998
This book investigates how changing norms of sovereignty may promote better governance in Africa. It begins by tracing the evolution of the concept of sovereignty and the way, in the post-cold war era, it has been redefined to emphasize the responsibility of the...
Category: Book
September 01, 1998
John Prendergast - Book Review: Frontline Diplomacy: Humanitarian Aid and Conflict in Africa - SAIS Review 18:2 SAIS Review 18.2 (1998) 234-236 Book Review Frontline Diplomacy: Humanitarian Aid and Conflict in Africa Frontline Diplomacy: Humanitarian Aid and...
Category: Journal Article
1998
Category: Book Chapter
1998
Category: Book Chapter
1998
Category: Book Chapter
April 1997
On 7 December 1996, President Jerry Rawlings won his second multiparty election in Ghana, completing another important step in the building of sustainable political and economic institutions in that West African state. Previous elections, in 1992, ended in charges...
Category: Journal Article
January 01, 1997
"No more Somalias" has become shorthand for the perils of humanitarian intervention. Like earlier slogans-"no more Munichs," "no more Vietnams"-the catchphrase implies a set of lessons learned and perceived implications for future...
Category: Journal Article
June 01, 1996
The authors assert that sovereignty can no longer be seen as a protection against interference, but as a charge of responsibility where the state is accountable to both domestic and external constituencies. In internal conflicts in Africa, sovereign states have...
Category: Book
April 01, 1996
With Africa in a period of rapid change, its leaders are faced with both rethinking old notions of state sovereignty and establishing new guidelines governing when and how international actors should intervene in domestic conflicts. This collection explores the...
Category: Book
Spring 1996
Category: Journal Article
March 01, 1996
The Ethiopian transition, that began with the overthrow of military dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in May 1991, formally ended with the swearing in of the newly elected Government of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia in August 1995. The intervening four years were...
Category: Journal Article
1996
Category: Book Chapter
July 01, 1995
The multilateral military intervention in Somalia was one of the international community's first major attempts to respond to a dangerous new challenge in the post-cold war era--the problem of state collapse and social disintegration. Catastrophes such as Somalia...
Category: Book
April 01, 1995
Baffour Agyeman-Duah's study joins a number of recent monographs on the relationship between superpower patronage and client state behavior in the horn of Africa. Robert B. Patman's The Soviet Union in the horn of Africa (Cambridge, 1990) focused on Moscow's...
Category: Journal Article
January 01, 1995
The history of United Nations peace-keeping operations represents a diverse range of experiences, encompassing forty-one missions from the UN truce Supervision Organization initiated in 1948 in the Middle East to the UN Mission of Observers in Prevlaka (Croatia),...
Category: Journal Article
November 01, 1994
"Dynamics of Regional Politics" explores the patterns of international conflict and cooperation in four geographical subsystems: the Horn of Africa, the Persian/Arabian Gulf, the South Asian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia. Wriggins's book argues that...
Category: Book
March 22, 1994
The crisis in Somalia is the result of the collapse of the state. Artificial states without strong social base or popular legitimacy are collapsing as superpower patronage is withdrawn and popular demands on the state rise. The best US policy is to anticipate and...
Category: Journal Article
1994
Category: Book Chapter
March 01, 1993
The course that the US and the United Nations should take in the 2nd phase of intervention in Somalia is considered. A deliberate rather than rapid pace - with patience on the part of foreigners when the inevitable setbacks occur - is recommended, as this will...
Category: Journal Article
March 1993
Review of The Insecurity Dilemma: National Security of Third World States, edited by Brian L. Job.
Category: Journal Article
Winter 1992
Category: Journal Article
March 1990
Review of Transformation and Continuity in Revolutionary Ethiopia, by Christopher Clapham; The Ethiopian Transformation: The Quest for the Post-Imperial State, by John W. Harbeson and Revolutionary Ethiopia: From Empire to People’s Republic, by Edmond J....
Category: Journal Article
1988
Review of Reassessing the Soviet Challenge in Africa, edited by Michael Clough.
Category: Journal Article
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April 03, 2017
The Ethiopian government has extended a nationwide state of emergency for four months, hailing it as successful in
Category: Newspaper Article

March 12, 2017
Terrence Lyons, Associate Professor at George Mason University, noted the extreme control the regime has over the media
Category: Newspaper Article
March 09, 2017
Chairman Smith on the hearing: “Ethiopia has long been an important ally, providing effective peacekeepers and
Category: Television Appearances

January 04, 2016
The United States is pulling the plug on its drone operations in southern Ethiopia as demands on its fleet of unmanned
Category: Newspaper Article

July 25, 2015
For years, the United States has displayed a kind of split personality when it comes to Ethiopia, working closely with
Category: Newspaper Article

July 24, 2015
NAIROBI, Kenya — President Obama arrived on Friday in Kenya, his father’s home country, for the start of a
Category: Newspaper Article

 
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June 18, 2015
Horn Political Analyst Terrence Lyons says Ethiopia’s ruling EPRDF is “effective mass mobilizing party,
Category: Television Appearances

May 27, 2015
Ethiopia’s ruling coalition won a majority in national elections, extending its 20-year rule over Africa’s
Category: Newspaper Article

May 27, 2015
Ethiopia recently held its first elections since the death of former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. We explore what was
Category: Radio Broadcast

May 18, 2015
Ethiopia, Washington’s security partner and Africa’s second most populous country, is scheduled to hold
Category: Newspaper Article

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Title Event Datesort icon
Dissertation Proposal Defense - Jeremy TomlinsonThe Process of Peace: Explaining Intra-Insurgent (Dis)Unity during DialogueFriday, April 28, 201710:00am - 12:00pmMetropolitan Building, Room 5145 Committee: Dr. Thomas Flores (Chair)Dr. Terrence LyonsDr. John Dale. Abstract: Why do
April 28, 2017
Insurgent Fragmentation in the Horn of Africa: Rebellion and its Discontents(Dr. Michael Woldemariam)Thursday, April 27, 201712:00pm - 2:00pmMetropolitan Building, Room 5183How can we explain patterns of factionalism and fragmentation in civil wars? How do normal, private disagreements within rebel
April 27, 2017
The Nigeria Project Team (NPT), the Africa Working Group (AWG), and the Program on Contentious Politics, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University invites you to a presentationMitigating Electoral Violence: Lessons from Nigeria’s 2015 ElectionSpeaker:Professor
September 13, 2016
This dissertation argues that regimes that emerged from violent conflict are less likely to be removed from power through nonviolent insurrections. Conversely, regimes that have no legacies of violence are more likely to succumb to nonviolent uprisings. In this dissertation, a regime is said to
June 20, 2016
Dissertation Proposal Defense: Cleophus Thomas IIIThe Future of Federalism in Somalia: Obstacles, Aspirations, & OpportunitiesTuesday, May 3rd2:00pm-4:00pmMetropolitan Building Room 5000CommitteeDr. Terrence Lyons (Chair)Dr. Susan HirschDr. Mariely Lopez-SantanaMany scholars have advocated
May 03, 2016
Alan Goulty: “Sudanese Peace Processes and their Lessons for Peacemakers”April 14th12:30pm - 2:00pmConference Room 5183Arlington VAJoin the Project on Contentious Politics (PCP) on April 14th, 12:30pm to 2:00pm, for a special brown bag event with Alan Goulty. Mr. Goulty will be
April 14, 2016
Dissertation Defense: Samuel Johnson The Effects Of Microfinance Liability Structure On The Political Capital Of Post-Conflict Clients: Implications For Peacebuilding And Economic Development  Tuesday, April 5th, 2016 at10:00am - 12:00pmMetropolitan Building Room 5183  
April 05, 2016
Dissertation Proposal Defense - Dhirendra Nalbo Sociopolitical Dimensions of Natural Resources in Peacebuilding:A Study of Kachin Conflict in MyanmarMonday, Aug. 31st10:00am - 11:30am Conference Room 5145Dissertation Committee:Dr. Susan F. Hirsch (Chair)Dr. Terrence LyonsDr. John DaleThis
August 31, 2015
Please join us for a discussion on President Obama's upcoming trip to Kenya and Ethiopia, his third presidential visit to sub-Saharan Africa. The session will begin by laying out the broad themes and objectives of the president's trip and the state of U.S. engagement in Africa. Panelists
July 16, 2015
Dissertation Defense: Fatima HadjiSocial Mobilization in Morocco: February 20 movement, Local Tansikiyats, and the Struggle for Real Change?Monday, May 11th10:00am-12:00pmConference Room 5183 Dissertation Committee Members: Dr. Terrence Lyons (Chair)Dr. Agnieszka Paczynska​Dr. Bassam
May 11, 2015
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Mason’s Center for Global Studies celebrated its 10th annual spring conference last week, welcoming students, faculty, academics, policy makers, and members of the public for two days of presentations of innovative research and discussion on the challenges of peacebuilding in the world today
March 28, 2013
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