Dr Benjamin J Spatz is a Senior Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business.  His broad research interests revolve around political economy, foreign policy, business-government relations, and institutional development.  He has written on conflict and post-conflict dynamics, negotiation and mediation, decarbonization, political violence, corruption, and sanctions.

Dr Spatz has held academic fellowships at Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation, the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University’s Fletcher School, and the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.  Through the World Peace Foundation, he was an affiliate researcher with two international research consortia: the Conflict Research Programme led by the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the Peace and Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform led by the University of Edinburgh Law School.  He has received research grants and awards from the United States Institute of Peace, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, and Harvard Law School, among others.   

As a practitioner, Dr Spatz has worked in government, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and as a political risk consultant.  This includes serving in the United States Department of the Treasury where he focused on financial crimes, corruption, and sanctions policy and implementation, as well as being appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General to the UN Panel of Experts on Liberia.  As a member of the UN Panel of Experts, he investigated sanctions violations, monitored global sanctions implementation, and reported on natural resource governance and security sector reform.  Previously, he was a Center for Global Development Scott Fellow embedded in the Government of Liberia to support Liberia’s post-conflict reconstruction, first serving as Special Assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and subsequently as Special Advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs.   

He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, an M.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, and undergraduate degrees from the University of Washington.  He was a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow and a Council on Foreign Relations Term Member.