Susan E. Waltz

Susan Waltz is a professor emerita of public policy at the Ford School. She specializes in human rights and international affairs, with a focus on arms transfer policy and regional expertise on North Africa. Waltz is author of Human Rights and Reform: Changing the Face of North African Politics (1995) and a series of articles on the historical origins of international human rights instruments. She also maintains the website Human Rights Advocacy and the History of International Human Rights Standards (humanrightshistory.umich.edu), hosted by U-M. For some 15 years she was involved in international efforts to promote an international Arms Trade Treaty and has more recently focused on U.S. firearms export regulations. From 1993—99 Susan served on Amnesty International's international executive committee and since 2000 she has served terms on the national boards of the American Friends Service Committee, Amnesty International USA, and an executive committee overseeing the work of the Quaker United Nations Office, New York. Susan received her PhD in international studies from the University of Denver.

Educational background

PhD, International Studies, University of Denver

Current research

History of international human rights policy and standard-setting work of human rights advocacy organizations. See Human Rights Advocacy and the History of International Human Rights Standards.

Recent publications

Website, Human Rights Advocacy and the History of International Human Rights Standards 2013 "Universalizing Human Rights: The Role of Small States in the Construction of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights" in Human Rights from a Third World Perspective, edited by Jose Manuel Barreto (Cambridge University Press). Updated/reprinted article originally published in Human Rights Quarterly, 2001. 2012. "Amnesty International," in The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Globalization. 2011 Human Rights: From Practice to Policy. Ann Arbor, Michigan (with Carrie Walling). 2009. "North Africa: Path to Democracy and Human Rights Protection," in Encyclopedia of Human Rights (Oxford University Press). 2008. "Who Wrote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?" U.S. State Department e-Journal commemorating the 60th anniversary of the UDHR. 2007. "U.S. Small Arms Policy: Having It Both Ways." World Policy Journal vol. 24: 2, 67-80.