Kawa Hassan is a Nonresident Fellow with Stimson’s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) program. From March 2021-February 2023 he was Executive Director Stimson Europe, Director MENA Program & Senior Fellow. In this role he transferred Brussels office & MENA Program of EastWest Institute (EWI) to Stimson Center, established Stimson Europe, the first overseas office of Stimson Center, oversaw all aspects of Stimson Europe and MENA Program including Track 2/Track 1.5 diplomacy projects, fundraising, communications, day-to-day management of staff, administrative and financial functions, engagement with donors, partners and stakeholders.
Prior to joining Stimson, Hassan was Vice President, MENA Program and Director, Brussels Center, EastWest Institute (EWI). In those two positions, he consolidated and expanded both MENA Program & Brussels Center through major diversification of donor base, raised funds, designed and led the implementation of eight Track 2/Track 1.5 diplomacy projects: Iran Saudi Dialogue Initiative, Iraq and Its Neighbors, Algeria-Morocco Business Dialogue, Kurdish-Kurdish Dialogue in Syria, Promoting Dialogue and Participation in Iraq, Dialogue on Governance and Stability in Northeast Syria, Preventing Incidents at Sea in the Gulf Region, and Stemming ISIS Financing.
At EWI he built trust between and brought together Iranian and Saudi officials and experts on issues of common concern and interest; brought together officials and experts from Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Turkey and produced policy recommendations for Iraq and its neighbors and EU on how the country could transform from a theater for proxy wars to a center for regional cooperation; mediated between the two key Syrian Kurdish parties PYD & KNC, developed confidence and trust building measures between them on power sharing and a joint vision, and successfully lobbied top French and American diplomats to mediate between the two parties; bridged the divide between ex-officials and experts from Iran, Saudi Arabia, U.S., UK, China, India, France, Kuwait, Bahrain on maritime security and developed a protocol on preventing incidents at Sea in the Gulf region; and designed a policy document on stemming ISIS and terrorist revenue streams.
Hassan is a member of NATO Mission Iraq Strategic Assessment Capability (NMISAC), advising senior NATO Commanders on Iraq and the region; assumed lead-authorship of the research report “Iraq, Climate-Related Security Risk Assessment,” which was used in the July 2018 UN Security Council debate on the nexus between climate change and security, brought forward under the Swedish Presidency of the Council. He also served as a member of the Atlantic Council’s Task Force on the Future of Iraq and its final report “Achieving Long Term Stability to Ensure the Defeat of ISIS;”, co-led the Working Group Rights & Protection of Minorities in the Middle East, Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme (FMSH), Paris, was a visiting and non-resident scholar at The Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center, a knowledge officer at Hivos, and worked for UNDP and FORUT in Sri Lanka.
He is author and editor of numerous publications, international speaker, and regularly provides interviews to international media outlets such as FT, WP, NT, BBC, DW, El Pais, VOA, etc on MENA affairs. His two most recent publications are “A Collapsing Order: State Pillage and Social Protest in Post-Saddam Iraq,” and “From Messenger to Host: Iraq as a Hub for Regional Dialogue”. Kawa Hassan holds a Master of Science in International Relations, Political Science from the University of Amsterdam, and studied English and German at the Al-Mustansiriya University, Baghdad, Iraq.
