Professor
Executive Director, Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice
- Leiden University, PhD, Law
- Harvard Law School, JD, cum laude, Law
- University of Utah, BA, summa cum laude, English
Dustin N. Sharp, JD, PhD, is a Professor at the Kroc School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego. His work examines how legal, moral, and political systems intersect—how ideals like justice, dignity, and peace take form in practice and sometimes collide with power and human limitation. Drawing on earlier experience in multilateral diplomacy, international organizations, and human rights advocacy in conflict zones, he combines legal and interpretive analysis to explore both the possibilities and the blind spots of international systems for peace, justice, and security.
Sharp is the author of Rethinking Transitional Justice for the 21st Century (Cambridge University Press, 2018) and Justice and Economic Violence in Transition (Springer, 2014). He has written dozens of scholarly articles and book chapters in leading outlets, including the Journal of Human Rights, International Journal of Transitional Justice, International Studies Review, and Human Rights Quarterly. His recent work explores how human rights and transitional justice might be reimagined with greater realism, restraint, and moral depth amid today’s crises of liberalism and legitimacy.
Before joining the Kroc School, Sharp worked at Human Rights Watch, where he designed and implemented research and advocacy strategies in Francophone West Africa, focusing on countries in crisis such as Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea. At the Institute for Peace and Justice, he later directed the West African Human Rights Training Initiative, a multi-year capacity-building program for civil-society organizations in Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. He also served as an attorney-adviser at the U.S. Department of State, representing the United States in multilateral treaty negotiations, and as a law clerk to Judge Carlos Lucero on the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. Earlier in his career, he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea.
Scholarly Work
Books and Edited Volumes
Re-Thinking Transitional Justice for the 21st Century: Beyond the End of History (Cambridge University Press, 2018).
Justice & Economic Violence in Transition (Springer, 2014).
Journal Articles
The Case for Human Rights Realism and Restraint, 24 Journal of Human Rights 456 (2025).
Comparative Foundations for a Human Rights-Based Approach to Psychedelics, 47 Human Rights Quarterly 63 (2025).
A Larger “We”; Social Change and Spirituality in an Identitarian Age, 14 J. of Human Rights Practice 462 (2023).
Prickles and Goo: Human Rights and Spirituality, 20 J. of Human Rights 36 (2021).
Positive Peace, Paradox, and Contested Liberalisms, 22 Int’l Studies Rev.122 (2020).
What Would Satisfy Us? Taking Stock of Critical Approaches to Transitional Justice, 13 Int’l J. of Transitional Justice 570 (2019).
Through a Glass Darkly; Three Important Conversations for Human Rights, 11 J. of Human Rights Practice 296 (2019).
Pragmatism and Multidimensionality in Human Rights Advocacy, 40 Hum. Rts. Q. 499 (2018).
Investigando as Periferias: As Preocupações da Justiça de Transição da Quarta Geração, 10 Revista Anistia Política e Justiça de Transição 220 (2015).
Emancipating Transitional Justice from the Bonds of the Paradigmatic Transition, 9 Int’l J. of Transitional Justice 150 (2015).
Addressing Dilemmas of the Global and the Local in Transitional Justice, 29 Emory Int'l L. Rev. 71 (2014).
Beyond the Post-Conflict Checklist: Linking Peacebuilding and Transitional Justice Through the Lens of Critique, 14 Chicago J. Int'l L. 165 (2013).
Interrogating the Peripheries; The Preoccupations of Fourth Generation Transitional Justice, 26 Harv. Hum. Rts. J. 149 (2013).
Addressing Economic Violence in Times of Transition: Toward a Positive-Peace Paradigm for Transitional Justice, 35 Fordham Int'l L. J. 780 (2012).
Requiem for a Pipedream; Oil, the World Bank, and the Need for Human Rights Assessments, 25 Emory Int’l L. Rev. 379 (2011).
Prosecutions, Development, and Justice; The Trial of Hissein Habré, 16 Harv. Hum. Rts. J. 149 (2003).
Areas of Interest
- International Law: Public International Law, Human Rights Law
- Human rights advocacy and NGOs
- Transitional Justice
- Post-Conflict Peacebuilding
- Economic and Social Rights
- Justice and Politics in Sub-Saharan Africa