ISIM Faculty and Staff

Joyce Leader
Visiting Scholar
jel37@georgetown.edu

Ambassador Joyce E. Leader, recently retired from the U.S. Foreign Service, is researching the effectiveness of bilateral and multi-lateral conflict mitigation and post-conflict peace-building strategies in preventing mass violence in the wake of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. She is also teaching and lecturing on Africa, especially the lessons of Rwanda for conflict prevention, and working on developing training strategies in conflict mitigation for policy and field practitioners.

During her 22-year career with the Department of State she specialized in African and refugee affairs. She served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Guinea, Consul General in Marseille, France, and Director of the Office of Refugee Assistance to Asia and the Near East. She was Deputy Chief of Mission in Rwanda during the three years prior to the 1994 genocide. In addition, she was Deputy Director of the Office of West African Affairs, Deputy Director of the Office of Refugee and Migration Affairs at the U.S. Mission in Geneva, and held positions at the U.S. embassies in Nigeria and Burkina Faso. Ambassador Leader wrote Rwanda’s Struggle for Democracy and Peace, 1991-1994, which was published in 2001 by The Fund for Peace where she was a Senior Fellow.

jel37@georgetown.edu