Ian Johnstone

Ian Johnstone is a professor of international law at The Fletcher School at Tufts University. He directs the Center for International Law & Governance and is co-chair of Fletcher's Global Diplomacy Institute. Johnstone is an interdisciplinary scholar working on global governance issues at the intersection of international law and international politics. He studies collective security, reform of the international institutional architecture, the governance of global public policy challenges, and international legal theory. A recipient of the James L. Paddock Teaching Award in 2005, he teaches courses in international organizations and conflict management.

Before joining Fletcher in 2000, Johnstone served in the U.N.'s Executive Office of the Secretary-General. During his tenure, he focused on peacekeeping and political issues in the immediate post Cold War era at the time of the Iraq crisis and Yugoslav wars. He continues to serve as a regular consultant to the U.N.

Johnstone sits on the editorial boards of the Canadian Yearbook of International Law and International Organizations Law Review. He is a member of the advisory board of the International Peace Institute and the U.N. Association of Greater Boston. He was the founding editor of the Annual Review of Global Peace Operations, and his scholarship appears in numerous top academic journals and publications.

He is the author and editor of eight books, including: "Law and Practice of the United Nations" (Oxford University Press, 2026), "Building an International Cybersecurity Regime: Multistakeholder Diplomacy" (Edward Elgar Publishing), "Talking International Law: Legal Argumentation Outside the Courtroom" (Oxford UP), "The Oxford Handbook of International Organizations: (Oxford UP), and "The Power of Deliberation: International Law, Politics and Organizations" (Oxford UP).