Impacts of non-governmental organizations, notably on human rights; civil military relations; democratization following authoritarian rule
Claude Welch holds the ranks of SUNY Distinguished Service Professor and is a retired professor of the Department of Political Science at the University at Buffalo. His academic specializations include African politics, the roles of armed forces in politics and human rights. Professor Welch has published widely on these subjects, with fourteen books and close to forty chapters and articles in academic journals. In 2006, he received the first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award given by TIAA-CREF and the SUNY Research Foundation. During his career at Buffalo, which started in 1964, Welch chaired or served on ~100 dissertation committees. He is known for his high-quality teaching, having received awards from Political Science students, the Undergraduate Student Association and the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.
A grateful campus salutes one of its most influential teacher-scholars after five decades of service
On the broadest level, I am interested in political transitions, particularly in developing countries, and most notably in Africa. My publications have come in the areas of African politics, human rights and civil-military relations. My research for the past several years, and continuing into the future, involves the effectiveness of human rights non-governmental organizations. As key parts of civil society, NGOs have become central to the promotion and protection of human rights. I document this in several books, four already published (Human Rights in Asia, 1990; Protecting Human Rights in Africa: Strategies and Roles of Non-Governmental Organizations, 1995; NGOs and Human Rights: Promise and Performance, 2001; and Economic and Social Rights in Canada and the United States, 2006). Currently under preparation is Protecting Human Rights Globally: Strategies and Roles of International NGOs.