Adam Smith

Research Fellow | smith@ipinst.org

Adam Smith is a Research Fellow, heading IPI’s work on peacekeeping. Since joining IPI in 2006, his work has focused on a variety of policy matters related to UN peace operations, including the management and organization of peace operations, interorganizational peacekeeping partnerships, peacekeeping capabilities, and the relationship between the UN Secretariat, the Security Council, and troop- and police-contributing countries.

Before IPI, Adam spent several years in the private sector as a consultant to nonprofit organizations. He served as the Ralph Helmold teaching fellow for an economics course at Columbia University in 2005 and 2006. He has consulted for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations. Adam holds a BS from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a master’s degree with a concentration in international security policy from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

Selected Publications

• Adam C. Smith, “Understanding What We’re Saying: Dilemmas of the UN’s Peacebuilding Paradigm,” Civil-Military Working Papers, Asia-Pacific Civil-Military Centre of Excellence, 2011.
• Adam C. Smith, rapporteur, “2010 Vienna Seminar: UN Peacekeeping in the 21st Century—Partnerships for Peace,” New York: International Peace Institute, 2011.
• Adam C. Smith and Vanessa Wyeth, rapporteurs, "Security Council Istanbul Retreat: At the Crossroads of Peacemaking, Peacekeeping, and Peacebuilding," New York: International Peace Institute, September 2010.
• Caty Clement and Adam C. Smith, “Managing Complexity: Political and Managerial Challenges in UN Peace Operations,” New York: International Peace Institute, June 2009.
• International Peace Institute, “Peace Operations,” IPI Blue Paper No. 9, Task Forces on Strengthening Multilateral Security Capacity, New York, 2009.