Session #1: General
Panel discussion following the presentation by Hyeran Jo
(research team from Texas A&M University, U.S.A.)
Erik Voeten (Georgetown University)
Henrietta Levin (Center for Strategic and International Studies)
Alexander Gray (American Global Strategies)
Session #2: Europe
Panel discussion following the presentation by Pawel Tverskoi
(research team from Freie Universität Berlin, Germany)
Christopher Walker (Center for European Policy Analysis)
Jeremy Shapiro (European Council on Foreign Relations)
Session #3: Asia
Panel discussion following the presentation by Jae Jeok Park
(research team from Yonsei University, South Korea)
Dhruva Jaishankar (Observer Research Foundation)
Satu Limaye (America + Asia Project LLC)
Emma Chanlett-Avery (Asia Society)
Session #4: Africa
Panel discussion following the presentation by Akoumba Diallo
(research team from General Lansana Conte University, Republic of Guinea)
Fonteh Akum (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)
David Shinn (Former U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia and Burkina Faso)
Joseph Siegle (Africa Center for Strategic Studies)
Session #5: Middle East
Panel discussion following the presentation by Efe Tokdemir
(research team from Bilkent University, Türkiye)
Marc Lynch (George Washington University)
John Calabrese (Middle East Institute)
Session #6: Latin America
Panel discussion following the presentation by Nathalie Mendez
(research team from Universidad de los Andes, Colombia)
Jana Nelson (Tony Blair Institute for Global Change)
Jason Marczak (Atlantic Council)
Panelist Bio
Hyeran Jo is Professor of Political Science at the Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University, U.S.A. Her research covers topics in international relations, with a focus on international institutions, political violence, and international law. She is the author of Compliant Rebels: Rebel Groups and International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2015), which won the Chadwick Alger Award from the International Studies Association. Her research appears in the Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, and International Organization, among others. Her research has been funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Andrew Carnegie Foundation, the Buffett Foundation, and the U.S. National Science Foundation.
Erik Voeten is the Peter F. Krogh Professor of Geopolitics and Justice in World Affairs at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and Government Department. He is the director of the Mortara Center for International Studies. Professor Voeten’s research examines the role of international institutions and law in international affairs and, more recently, the political economy of the energy transition (Scholar Google profile). He is a past editor of the academic journals International Organization and Research and Politics. He is one of the editors of the new site Good Authority and previously edited the Monkey Cage Washington Post blog. He teaches classes on international relations theory, international institutions, and statistical methods. His book, Ideology and International Institutions, appeared with Princeton University Press in January 2021.
Henrietta Levin is a senior fellow with the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. She previously held senior roles at the U.S. Department of State and the White House, spearheading U.S. strategy and diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific, with particular focus on China and its global impact, Southeast Asia, and the region’s multilateral architecture. Most recently, Henrietta served as deputy China coordinator for global affairs at the Department of State, director for China at the White House National Security Council, and director for Southeast Asia, also at the National Security Council. Earlier, she held several positions across the Department of State, including at U.S. Embassy Beijing, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. She began her government career at the Pentagon, where she served as a spokesperson and presidential management fellow in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Henrietta is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and holds several Department of State Superior Honor Awards. She received a bachelor's degree in international relations and a master of public diplomacy degree from the University of Southern California.
Alexander B. Gray is the Chief Executive Officer of American Global Strategies LLC, an international strategic advisory firm that he co-founded with former National Security Advisor Robert C. O’Brien. Mr. Gray’s wide-ranging practice includes the defense, aerospace, maritime, and technology sectors. Mr. Gray most recently served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff of the White House National Security Council (NSC), where he directed the daily operations of the National Security Advisor’s immediate office, as well as the budget, personnel, and security functions of the NSC. Previously, he served in the White House as Special Assistant to the President for the Defense Industrial Base at the National Economic Council (NEC), the principal Executive Office of the President (EOP) official responsible for matters impacting the defense and manufacturing industrial base, and as the first-ever Director for Oceania and Indo-Pacific Security at the NSC. Mr. Gray, a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, is a Senior Fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC); a Senior Nonresident Fellow at the Global Taiwan Institute (GTI); a member of the Nixon Seminar on Conservative Realism and National Security, sponsored by the Richard Nixon Foundation; and a Senior Advisor at the Marathon Initiative. Mr. Gray was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR) in Taipei, Taiwan and has served as an international election observer for Bangladesh’s 2024 parliamentary elections. He currently serves as Chairman of the Oklahoma China Readiness Working Group, convened by the Oklahoma Council on Public Affairs (OCPA). Mr. Gray’s writings have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, The Washington Times, The Oklahoman, National Review, Newsweek, The National Interest, The Hill, The Weekly Standard, Naval War College Review, Strategic Studies Quarterly, and the Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute.
Pawel Tverskoi joined the Center of International Relations as a research associate in May 2024. He has been part of the DFG-funded project “Should I Stay or Should I Go? State Exits from Regional Organizations” (Prof. Dr. Diana Panke) since February 2023. Previously, he has worked as project staff for an international organization focusing on rule of law promotion, as an analyst with security consultancies, and as a research associate for a conflict analysis journal. Tverskoi studied International Relations at the University of Malta and Politics and Public Administration with a specialisation in International Administration and Conflict Management at the University of Konstanz.
Christopher Walker is Vice President at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) where he leads the organization's extensive research agenda and drives its strategic direction and external affairs. Since joining CEPA in 2025, he has helped executive leadership advance the organization’s thought leadership on the evolving challenges facing democratic systems, with particular attention to authoritarian influence, especially Russia and China, technology, information, and the strategic competition shaping the global environment. Prior to joining CEPA, Walker served as Vice President for Studies and Analysis at the National Endowment for Democracy where he oversaw a multifaceted department at a leading democracy assistance organization. Working with a diverse team of dedicated staff, he created a vision and strategy to link ideas to action in the practice of democracy. Walker also served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of International Affairs at New York University's Center for Global Affairs. He holds a B.A. from Binghamton University and an M.A. from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. Walker has testified before legislative committees, appears regularly in the media, and frequently conducts briefings on critical international affairs issues. He has been at the forefront of the discussion on authoritarian influence on democratic systems, including through “sharp power,” a concept he and his colleagues developed. His articles have appeared in numerous publications, including the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, and the Journal of Democracy. He is co-editor (with Larry Diamond and Marc Plattner) of the edited volume Authoritarianism Goes Global: The Challenge to Democracy (2016), and co-editor (with Jessica Ludwig) of the report Sharp Power: Rising Authoritarian Influence (2017); and book Defending Democracy in an Age of Sharp Power (2023) with William J. Dobson and Tarek Masoud.
Jeremy Shapiro is the research director of the European Council on Foreign Relations. His areas of focus include US foreign policy and transatlantic relations. Shapiro was previously a fellow with the Project on International Order and Strategy and the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings, where he edited the Foreign Policy program’s blog Order from Chaos. Prior to Brookings, he was a member of the U.S. State Department’s policy planning staff, where he advised the secretary of state on U.S. policy in North Africa and the Levant. He was also the senior advisor to Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon, providing strategic guidance on a wide variety of U.S.-European foreign policy issues.
Jae Jeok Park is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of International Studies and Underwood International College, Yonsei University. Previously, he worked as a visiting professor at Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS) (Jan. 2010 - August 2010) and a research fellow at Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU) (Sep. 2010 - August 2014). Also, he was Assistant and Associate Professor at the Graduate School of International and Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul (HUFS) (Sep. 2014 – Feb. 2023). His research interests include alliance politics, US security policy in Indo-Pacific, the US-ROK alliance, and the US-Australia alliance. He received his B.A and M.I.S. from Yonsei University, M.A. and M.S. from Northwestern University in the US, and Ph.D. from Australian National University (December 2009).
Dhruva Jaishankar is Executive Director of the Observer Research Foundation America (ORF America), a public policy think tank in Washington DC, which he helped establish in 2020. In this capacity, he has also served as Vice President - Americas at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) since 2025 and is an ex officio member of ORF America's Board of Directors. He is the author of Vishwa Shastra: India and the World (Penguin India, 2024), an introduction to India's international relations. He is a non-resident fellow at the Lowy Institute in Australia and a 2026 senior fellow with the Asia New Zealand Foundation. Mr. Jaishankar was previously a Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies at Brookings India in New Delhi and the Brookings Institution in Washington DC. Prior to that, he was a Transatlantic Fellow with the German Marshall Fund (GMF) in Washington DC. From 2009 to 2012, he was program officer with the Asia Program at GMF. Before that, he worked as a research assistant at the Brookings Institution in Washington and as a news writer and reporter for CNN-IBN television in New Delhi. In 2015-2016, Jaishankar was a Visiting Fellow with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He has also been a David Rockefeller Fellow with the Trilateral Commission, an IISS-SAIS Merrill Center Young Strategist, and a Brent Scowcroft Award Fellow with the Aspen Strategy Group. He holds a B.A. in history and classics from Macalester College, and an M.A. in security studies from Georgetown University.
Satu Limaye is President & CEO of The America + Asia Project (TAAP), a non-profit public-education initiative that creates policy-relevant and public diplomacy resources and connections contributing to America–Asia relations. He is also a Senior Fellow, Center for Naval Analyses (CNA Corp.), and Visiting Scholar at the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. Dr. Limaye’s The America & Asia Project, LLC provides analytical services to government and private sector clients. He was previously Vice President of the East West Center (EWC), serving concurrently as Director EWC in Washington and created the Asia Matters for America initiative. He is a graduate of Georgetown University and received his doctorate from Oxford University (Magdalen College) as a George C. Marshall Scholar. He publishes and speaks widely on Indo-Pacific regional issues and supports various U.S. government, foundation, fellowship, and professional organizations. Recent contributions include the Center for New American Security (CNAS) Task Force on U.S.-Philippines Alliance, United States Institute of Peace (USIP) Senior Study Group on the North Pacific, Project 2049 Study Group on the U.S.-Australia Alliance, and Global Taiwan Institute-Taiwan Asia Exchange Foundation project on Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy and the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy. Recent publications include The “3 Body Problem” and US Relations with Southeast Asia, India-US Convergence in the Indo-Pacific, Two Decades of the Quad, and Asia Navigates Uncertainty and Continuity of US Regional Policy in the 2024 Elections.
Emma Chanlett-Avery is Deputy Director of the Asia Society Policy Institute's Washington, DC office and the Director for Political-Security Affairs. Emma leads Congressional outreach efforts and directs ASPI’s policy engagement on Indo-Pacific alliances. Previous to this post, she served for 20 years as a Specialist in Asian Affairs at the Congressional Research Service, where she focused on United States relations with Japan, the Korean Peninsula, Thailand, and Singapore, with an emphasis on security issues. In 2023, she served as a Congressional Fellow on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, assisting the Chairman with drafting Asia policy legislation and preparing for hearings. Ms. Chanlett-Avery was a Presidential Management Fellow, with rotations in the State Department on the Korea Desk and at the Joint United States Military Advisory Group in Bangkok, Thailand. She also worked in the Office of Policy Planning as a Harold Rosenthal Fellow. She is a member of the Mansfield Foundation United States–Japan Network for the Future and a Mansfield-Luce Asia Network Scholar. She is a recipient of the Kato Prize, awarded by Washington think tanks for strengthening the United States-Japan alliance. She serves as Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Japan-America Societies, Counselor of the Board of Trustees of the Japan-America Society of Washington, DC, and a Trustee of International Student Conferences, Inc. Ms. Chanlett-Avery received an MA in international security policy from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and her BA in Russian studies from Amherst College.
Akoumba Diallo is a specialist in extractive industries governance and public policy. He has more than 20 years of experience in monitoring natural resource management, transparency, and the fight against corruption and financial crime, particularly in the Republic of Guinea and, more generally, in West Africa. He has worked in media, the public sector, civil society, and consulting in Guinea. He holds two Master's degrees, respectively, in political philosophy and political science, both from General Lansana Conté University at Sonfonia-Conakry. He is currently completing an MBA at Berkeley College in New York and exploring doctoral studies in political philosophy. His multidisciplinary background allows him to contribute meaningfully to discussions on governance, economic transparency, and sustainable development. Beyond special reports of investigative journalism on issues of mining, governance and corruption, Akoumba Diallo is also the author of two recent books on the world-class iron ore mine of Simandou and on political violence in Guinea: Dans l'Arène de Simandou (2020) and Les Violences Politiques en Guinée (2024).
Fonteh Akum is director and senior fellow of Carnegie’s Africa Program. His work focuses on building the resilience of African states and societies to conflict, climate, and pandemic shocks, while informing opportunities to leverage digital, demographic, and diplomatic capabilities. Previously, Fonteh served as executive director of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Africa’s preeminent independent think tank focused on peace, development, and prosperity. As executive director, Fonteh enhanced the ISS’s continental and global profile by strengthening the evidence base for public policy decision-making. Before his tenure at the ISS, Fonteh had a broad background as a researcher, leader, and practitioner. He began his 25-year career at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC, and has since worked for the United States Army, the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, and the United Nations University for Peace. Fonteh holds a PhD in politics and international studies from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, an MA from the American University in Cairo, an MA from the American University’s School of International Service in Washington, DC, and a BA from the University of Buea in Cameroon.
David Shinn continues to research, write, and lecture on China-Africa issues after completing two careers: 37 years with the US Foreign Service and 24 years of university teaching. His embassy assignments with the State Department included Lebanon, Kenya, Tanzania, Mauritania, Cameroon, Sudan, and as ambassador to Burkina Faso and Ethiopia. He then taught in the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University until 2024. He is the co-author of China and Africa: A Century of Engagement (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012) and China's Relations with Africa: A New Era of Strategic Engagement (Columbia University Press, 2023). Ambassador Shinn has a PhD in political science from George Washington University.
Joseph Siegle is the Director of Research at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. He leads the Center’s research and strategic communications program with the aim of generating policy relevant analyses addressing Africa’s security challenges. His research includes understanding the role of governance in advancing security and development; the role of external actors, including Russia, in Africa; stabilizing fragile states; democratic transitions; and strengthening institutions of democratic accountability. Dr. Siegle has written widely for leading policy journals and newspapers and is a regular media analyst. Prior to joining the Africa Center, he was a Douglas Dillon Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a senior research scholar at the University of Maryland’s Center for International and Security Studies, and a senior advisor for democratic governance at DAI. For more than a decade, he served in various field capacities throughout Africa as well as in Asia and the Balkans with the international NGO, World Vision, and as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Dr. Siegle holds a doctorate in international security and economic policy from the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy and a master’s in agricultural economics, with an emphasis on African food security, from Michigan State University.
Efe Tokdemir is an Associate Professor of International Relations, Vice Dean of Faculty of Economics, Administrative, and Social Sciences at Bilkent University, and the PI of ERC Consolidator Grant project COUNSTER (2026-2031). Tokdemir earned his PhD in Political Science from Binghamton University (2017), and BA in Boğaziçi University (2012). His research interests include conflict processes, foreign policy and public opinion, and political use of force. His works have so far appeared in leading journals of the field such as Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, Political Behavior, Conflict Management and Peace Science, Terrorism & Political Violence, International Interactions. Dr. Tokdemir’s book “Battle for Allegiance: Governments, Terrorist Groups, and Constituencies in Conflict” has been published by University of Michigan Press in 2020. Tokdemir received “Young Scientist Award (BAGEP)” from Science Academy of Türkiye in 2019, “Award for Outstanding Young Scientist” (GEBIP) from Turkish Academy of Sciences in 2020, The Sakip Sabanci International Research Award in 2021, The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye Incentive Award in 2023, and International Relations Council of Türkiye Young Scholars Award in 2024. His project on non-violent counterinsurgency strategies has been funded by the TUBITAK National Young Leader Researchers Program for 2022-2025. Tokdemir has previously been a postdoctoral fellow of ISA James N. Rosenau Fellowship (2017-2018), visiting fellow at The Ohio State University’s Mershon Center for International Security Studies (2016-2018) and visiting scholar at The University of Chicago’s CPOST program (2024-2025).
Marc Lynch is a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, and the director of the Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS) and co-director of the Program on African Social Research (Pasiri). He received his BA in political science from Duke University and his MA and PhD in government from Cornell University. He is the editor of the Columbia University Press series Columbia Studies on Middle East Politics, hosts the Middle East Political Science Podcast, and runs the popular Abu Aardvark Middle East politics blog. His recent books include America’s Middle East: The Ruination of a Region (Hurst and Oxford, 2025) and What is the Middle East? The Theory and Practice of Regions (Cambridge University Press, 2025). He received a Harry F. Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar Award in 2025 to support his current book project, Battle Scars: Violence in the Middle Eastern Warscape, and is also writing a new book on digital authortarianism and surveillance in the Middle East.
John Calabrese is a non-resident senior fellow at the Middle East Institute (MEI) and book review editor for The Middle East Journal. His work focuses on the international relations of the Middle East, with a particular emphasis on cross-regional ties between the Middle East and Asia. He also teaches US foreign policy at American University. Dr. Calabrese is the author of China’s Changing Relations with the Middle East (Printer Publishers, 1991) and Revolutionary Horizons: Regional Foreign Policy in Post-Khomeini Iran (Palgrave Macmillan, 1994). He has edited several books and written numerous articles on Middle Eastern international relations. He holds a PhD in International Relations and a Diploma (with Distinction) in Comparative and International Politics from the London School of Economics, and a BA in English and Government from Georgetown University. Since 1998, he has taught US Foreign Policy and supervised research projects in American University's Washington Semester Program.
Nathalie Mendez is an Associate Professor at the School of Government at Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Texas A&M University, with an emphasis in public administration, public policy, and comparative politics. She is the Co-Principal Investigator for the World Values Survey in Colombia. She received a Master's in Public Policy from Universidad de los Andes (Colombia) in 2013, and a BA in Political Science from Universidad Javeriana (Colombia) in 2009. Her research has appeared in Public Administration, Social Science Quarterly, Journal of Peacebuilding and Development, Journal of International Development and Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy. She has taught and conducted research, consultancy, and fieldwork in Colombia, Brazil, the United States, and Sri Lanka. She also served as a public-sector manager in Colombia for 7 years.
Jana Nelson is the Head for Latin America at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, helping governments in the region deliver for their citizens. With twenty years of experience working in and on Latin America, she most recently served as a principal advisor to two U.S. cabinet members, where she had a front row seat in designing and implementing U.S. Foreign Policy for the Western Hemisphere, from Canada down to Chile. In addition to her government service, Jana has held government relations and geostrategic advisory roles in the private sector, in the technology and consumer goods sectors. She is also an advisory board member to various think tanks and non-profits.
Jason Marczak is vice president and senior director at the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center. He joined the Council in 2013 to launch the center and set the strategic direction for its work. Marczak has twenty-five years of expertise in regional economics, politics, and development, working with high-level policymakers and private-sector executives to shape public policy. He recently co-authored a strategy for US engagement with the region, co-edited a book on the future of the US-Colombia relationship, and led groundbreaking work on the economic gains of reducing wait time at the US-Mexico border. In 2021, he led the establishment of a Caribbean Initiative at the Atlantic Council. Marczak held positions at the National Endowment for Democracy and as a legislative aide in the office of then US Representative Sam Farr (D-CA) with a portfolio including trade and foreign affairs. Marczak frequently provides English- and Spanish-language media commentary and has testified before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs. In 2022, he was invited by the House Financial Services Committee to join a congressional delegation in Barbados and present work to nearly a dozen Caribbean heads of government. In 2023, on the occasion of the ten-year anniversary of the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, Marczak was presented with the Visionary Leadership Award. He received a master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies and a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University. Marczak is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations.