People

Prof. Yolanda Kemp Spies was trained as a diplomat at the South African Foreign Ministry and at Oxford University, UK. She practiced diplomacy for 19 years, and lived and worked on four continents before she joined academia. She completed her doctorate in International Relations in 2005, after which she designed a Master of Diplomatic Studies program for the University of Pretoria. She directed the programme until 2016. From 2016 to 2019 she lectured in Masters programmes at (the American) Webster University’s Ghana campus. Her academic specialisation and publications include diplomacy, foreign policy analysis, international organisations, international law, conflict resolution, changing global power relations, and African politics and ethics in international relations. During 2019 she published two books on the theory and practice of diplomacy: Global Diplomacy and International Society; and Global South Perspectives on Diplomacy.

She joined Zayed University during January 2020, as Associate Professor of International Studies.