Karen Smith

Karin Smith is a South African International Relations scholar currently teaching in the Institute for History at Leiden University. Before joining Leiden, she was an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Cape Town, and before that she taught at the universities of Stellenbosch (2000-2010) and the Western Cape (2003-2004). From 2019 to 2021 Karen Smith served in a part-time position as Special Adviser of the United Nations Secretary-General on the Responsibility to Protect. Her research focus has been on South Africa’s foreign policy, the changing global order, and on non-Western contributions to international relations.