Denise Garcia
Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs
Denise Garcia researches on international law, and the questions of lethal robotics and artificial intelligence, global governance of security, and the formation of new international norms and their impact on peace and security.
She was the recipient of Northeastern’s College of Social Sciences and Humanities Outstanding Teaching Award in 2016. In 2017, Garcia was appointed to the International Panel for the Regulation of Autonomous Weapons (Germany’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
Garcia teaches the annual course titled “Global Governance of International Security and the World Politics of Diplomacy” at the United Nations in Geneva, in cooperation with the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research and many other partners. In 2016, she testified to the United Nations on the question of lethal autonomous weapons and their impact on peace and security.
Author of Small Arms and Security – New Emerging International Norms, and Disarmament Diplomacy and Human Security – Norms, Regimes, and Moral Progress in International Relations, her articles have appeared in Foreign Affairs, the European Journal of International Security, International Affairs, Ethics & International Affairs, Third World Quarterly, Global Policy Journal, International Relations, and elsewhere.
She is proud to have held the title of Sadeleer Family Research Faculty at Northeastern (2011-2016). Prior to joining the faculty of Northeastern University in 2006 (tenured in 2013), Garcia held a three-year appointment at Harvard, at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and the World Peace Foundation’s Intra-State Conflict Program. She is the vice-chair of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control, a member of the Academic Council of the United Nations and the Global South Unit for Mediation in Rio de Janeiro. A native of Brazil, and a naturalized citizen of the United States of America, Garcia is a devoted yogi, her hobbies include travel and surfing.
Please visit her page on Foreign Affairs
Read Professor Garcia’s Faculty Spotlight.
- Member of the Experiential Robotics Institute, Northeastern University
- Vice-Chair of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control
- Member of the International Panel for the Regulation of Autonomous Weapons (Germany’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems member
- Northeastern University-wide Outstanding Teaching Award 2018-2019
- College of Social Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award (2017)
- Nobel Peace Institute Fellow in Oslo (2017)
- Testimonies to the United Nations on the question of lethal autonomous weapons and their impact on peace and security
- Member of the Research Board of the Institute for Economics and Peace
- Summer Course at the United Nations in Geneva, since 2007
- Global Resilience Institute Faculty at Northeastern University
BOOKS:
Small Arms and Security – New Emerging International Norms.
ARTICLES:
- Redirect military budgets to tackle climate change and pandemics” Nature, 20 August 2020.
- “The AI Arms Race: Trends and World Leaders in Autonomous Weapons Development“, co-authored with Justin Haner,
- “Disarmament in International Law.” In Oxford Bibliographies in International Law. Ed. Tony Carty. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020.
- “Lethal Artificial Intelligence and Change: The Future of International Peace and Security”, International Studies Review (2018) 20, 334–341. Oxford University Press
- “Future Arms, Technologies, and International Law: Preventive Security Governance“, European Journal of International Security, Vol. 1 (1) 2016.
- Foreign Affairs: “Battle Bots: How the World Should Prepare Itself for Robotic Warfare”: May 2015.
- Carnegie Council Journal Ethics and International Affairs: Killer Robots: Toward the Loss of Humanity.
- Foreign Affairs: Disarming the Lords of War, A New International Treaty to Regulate the Arms Trade
- Foreign Affairs: The Case Against Killer Robots: Why the United States Should Ban Them
- International Affairs, “Humanitarian Security Regimes”, Jan. 2015, Vol. 91 (1).
Please check-out her new podcast : « Controlling Killer Robots »
Denise Garcia is the vice-chair of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control, a member of the Academic Council of the United Nations and the Global South Unit for Mediation in Rio de Janeiro. She is the recipient of the Northeastern University Outstanding Teaching Award (2019) and the College of Social Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award (2017).
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Education
PhD, 2006, International Relations & International Law, Institut des Hautes Études Internationales et du Développement (Graduate Institute for International Studies and Development), University of Geneva, Switzerland
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Contact
617.373.2879 / 617.875.3228 d.garcia@northeastern.edu -
Address
210L Renaissance Park
360 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115 -
Office Hours
Fall 2021: Virtual on Wednesday 10am-11:30am and Thursday 5pm-6:30pm
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Dialogues
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International Conflict and Negotiation
INTL 3400
Offers an interdisciplinary approach to analyzing international conflict and negotiations: how conflicts evolve, are managed, and/or resolved. In dealing with different types of regional and international conflicts, students focus on historical, ethnic, religious, geographic, and political aspects of a variety of conflicts and the consequences these conflicts hold for regional and international actors.
