Andrew Cheatham is a senior advisor for global policy and disruptive technologies.

He is a lawyer and former United Nations official with a history of success working in international affairs in highly complex conflict and crisis environments in the Middle East and Africa. He is experienced in institutional problem-solving on issues of rule of law, transitional justice, human rights, peace process support, program management, strategic communications, policy advisory services and risk management.

Cheatham holds a law degree from City University New York School of Law, a master’s in war studies and counterterrorism from King's College London, a bachelor’s in mass communications from Boston University and a certificate in negotiation from Harvard Law School. He has been a regular guest lecturer at King’s College London and is a non-resident fellow at the Seton Hall University Center for Peace and Conflict Studies and the Sympodium Institute for Strategic Communications.

Publications By Andrew

How Disruptive Technologies Are Changing Peace and Security

How Disruptive Technologies Are Changing Peace and Security

Thursday, June 20, 2024

The global landscape of violence and conflict is transforming at a rapid pace, as disruptive technologies revolutionize how wars are waged. For years, security forces and intelligence agencies have been steeped in the dynamic threats posed by new technologies and they regularly use advanced tools to respond to those threats. Diplomats and peacebuilders, however, may often neglect threats from disruptive technologies due to an overreliance on historical power dynamics; a lack of creative thinking fostered by elite, risk-averse cultural pressures; and a disconnect from local communities where violence occurs. Tech illiteracy hampers understanding of how emerging technologies are used and how they can exacerbate conflicts.

Type: Analysis

Global Policy

Ask the Experts: The Genocide Convention 75 Years On

Ask the Experts: The Genocide Convention 75 Years On

Thursday, December 14, 2023

Since the Genocide Convention was introduced 75 years ago, the crime of genocide has become so well known and so well understood that the international backlash is nearly instantaneous — and holding perpetrators accountable for this crime is foundational to many international judicial systems, from the tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda in the 1990s to the prosecution of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. USIP’s Andrew Cheatham spoke with David Scheffer, the former U.S. ambassador at-large for war crimes issues and professor at Arizona State University, about the history of the Genocide Convention and the mechanisms by which genocide and other atrocity crimes are prosecuted.

Type: Blog

Human Rights

In a Multipolar World, the Private Sector Can Be a Force for Peace

In a Multipolar World, the Private Sector Can Be a Force for Peace

Monday, November 6, 2023

As the world transitions to a more multipolar, competitive landscape, this is an important moment to take stock of the role of the private sector, particularly multinational enterprises, in the genesis and resolution of armed conflict. Today, the world’s biggest corporations are wealthier than many nations and the private sector is playing an increasingly important role in geopolitics. At the same time, we are seeing a rise in violence and conflict that threatens to pose major risks to business around the world.

Type: Analysis

Conflict Analysis & PreventionEconomics

Ask the Experts: How Post-War Commemorations Can Impact Peace

Ask the Experts: How Post-War Commemorations Can Impact Peace

Monday, October 23, 2023

The current approach to peacebuilding tends to focus on the drivers of conflict — by understanding what’s causing violence, mechanisms can be put in place to stop it. But that is only one part of peacebuilding, and a current dilemma facing the field is how to navigate the emotional aftermath of a conflict, where the warring parties might have different recollections and understandings of historical events. USIP’s Andrew Cheatham spoke with Seton Hall University Professor David Wood, the co-author of the “Ethics of Political Commemoration: Towards a New Paradigm ” who is also a senior researcher at Geneva Graduate Institute, about how this issue manifests in the practice of post-war commemorations and what the peacebuilding field can do to facilitate commemorations in a way that is more likely to lead to a peaceful future.

Type: Blog

Peace Processes

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