Organizing Democracy, a new book by Paul Poast and Johannes Urpelainen, argues that new democracies are more likely to flourish when they receive support from international organizations to help them provide public goods to their populations. This event will present the findings of Organizing Democracy, analyze the relationships between new democracies and international organizations in the cases of Ukraine and Libya, and explore policy implications for democracy promotion by the U.S. government.
WHAT: Book launch for Organizing Democracy and expert analysis of how the U.S. can work with international organizations to support new democracies.
WHERE: The Stimson Center, 1211 Connecticut Avenue, NW, 8th Floor, Washington DC, 20036
WHEN: December 12, 2018, 10am-11:30am
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FEATURING:
PAUL POAST, Co-author, Organizing Democracy, and Assistant Professor, Political Science, University of Chicago
Paul Poast is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago, where he is also a research affiliate of the Pearson Institute for the Study of Global Conflicts and a member of the Center for International Social Science Research advisory board. He studies international relations, with a focus on international security. He is the co-author of Organizing Democracy (University of Chicago Press, 2018).
STEPHEN LENNON, Director, Office of Transition Initiatives, USAID
Stephen Lennon serves as the Director of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) in the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance. Immediately prior, he was Chief of OTI’s Field Programs Division supervising five regional and 15 country teams, and was previously an OTI Regional Team Lead overseeing the Asia/Middle East region. Before joining OTI, he worked for a decade for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), including serving as the Head of the IOM’s Community Stabilization Unit, and as the primary liaison with the U.S. government for U.S.-funded IOM emergency and post-conflict stabilization operations worldwide.
STEVEN GRINER, Director, Department of Sustainable Democracy and Special Missions, Organization of American States
Steven Griner served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala from 1987 to 1989 and subsequently worked at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) in Washington, D.C. He joined the OAS Unit for the Promotion of Democracy in 1993 and managed the Special Program of Support to Guatemala and the OAS Inter-American Forum on Political Parties. From 2006 to 2011, he served as Chief of the Electoral Observation Section of the OAS Department for Electoral Cooperation and Observation. He served as the Coordinator of the OAS Civil Identity Program of the Americas and E-Government of the Department of Effective Public Management until 2015. He was appointed interim director of the Department for Sustainable Democracy and Special Missions in November 2015.
AMANDA KADLEC, Policy Analyst, RAND Corporation
Amanda Kadlec is a Policy Analyst at RAND who specializes in nonstate actors and international security, with specific emphasis on the security, political, and governance complexities the Middle East and North Africa. For roughly five years, she lived, worked, and conducted research in Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, and Kuwait, with research positions at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Cairo, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Middle East Center in Beirut.
ADITI GORUR, Director, Protecting Civilians in Conflict Program, Stimson Center (Moderator)
Aditi Gorur is the Director of the Protecting Civilians in Conflict Program and a Senior Associate at Stimson. Her primary research focus is on preventing and responding to violence against civilians, particularly in the context of peacekeeping operations. Before joining Stimson, she worked with the Indian Institute for Human Settlements in India, the Asia Foundation and the Center for Liberty in the Middle East in Washington, DC, and the Melbourne University Law School in Australia.