Tag: Panel Events

Regional Architecture for Partnerships in the Indo-Pacific: The Role of the US & India in Security and the Commons

Hosted by the Department of International Studies, Political Science and History at CHRIST University, Co-sponsored by the Rising Powers Initiative, Sigur Center for Asian Studies, Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

6:30 – 8:00 PM IST | 9:00 – 10:30 AM EDT

Thursday, August 18, 2022

6:30 – 8:00 PM IST | 9:00 – 10:30 AM EDT

Webex Event

This two-day conference is being held in partnership with the George Washington University, the US Department of State, and CHRIST (Deemed to be University).

Conference Program

Day 1: Wednesday, August 17, 2022 | Regional Architecture for Security in the Indo-Pacific

6:30 – 6:45 PM IST | 9:00 – 9:15 AM EDT — Opening Remarks

Welcome: N. Manoharan, CHRIST (Deemed to be University)

Inaugural Address: Alyssa Ayres, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University

Introduction: Deepa M. Ollapally, Rising Powers Initiative and Research Professor of International Affairs, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University

6:45 – 7:30 PM IST | 9:15 – 10:00 AM EDT — Panel One

Jeff Smith, Heritage Foundation

Lisa Curtis, Center for New American Security (CNAS)

Adml (Retd.) Arun Prakash, Former Chief of Naval Staff, India

7:30 – 8:00 PM IST | 10:00 – 10:30 AM EDT — Open Discussion

Day 2: Thursday, August 18, 2022 | Regional Architecture for the Commons in the Indo-Pacific

6:30 – 6:35 PM IST | 9:00 – 9:05 AM EDT — Opening Remarks

Introduction: Deepa M. Ollapally, Rising Powers Initiative and Research Professor of International Affairs, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University

6:35 – 7:20 PM IST | 9:05 – 9:50 AM EDT — Panel Two

Jason Donofrio, The Ocean Foundation

Cornell Overfield, Center for Naval Analyses (CNA)

Abhijit Singh, Observer Research Foundation (ORF)

7:20 – 7:50 PM IST | 9:50 – 10:20 AM EDT — Open Discussion

7:50 – 8:00 PM IST | 10:20 – 10:30 AM EDT — Closing Remarks

Valedictory Address: Joseph C.C., Department of International Studies, Political Science and History, CHRIST (Deemed to be University)

Conclusion: Deepa M. Ollapally, Rising Powers Initiative and Research Professor of International Affairs, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University

Vote of Thanks: Madhumati Deshpande, CHRIST (Deemed to be University)

Speaker Bios

Alyssa Ayres was appointed dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs and professor of history and international affairs at George Washington University effective February 1, 2021. Ayres is a foreign policy practitioner and award-winning author with senior experience in the government, nonprofit, and private sectors. From 2013 to 2021, she was senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), where she remains an adjunct senior fellow. Ayres has been awarded numerous fellowships and has received four group or individual Superior Honor Awards for her work at the State Department. She speaks Hindi and Urdu, and in the mid-1990s worked as an interpreter for the International Committee of the Red Cross. She received an AB from Harvard College and an MA and PhD from the University of Chicago. She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the Halifax International Security Forum’s agenda working group, and a member of the Women’s Foreign Policy Group board of directors.

Dr. Fr. Joseph C. C. (@ChristBangalore) is Pro-Vice Chancellor and Professor, Department of International Studies and History, CHRIST (Deemed to be University). He is also Director of Student Affairs, at the University. A noted expert on maritime history, Fr. Jose is a member of both the Indian History Congress and South Indian History Congress. He has authored or co-authored four books and numerous peer-reviewed articles on wide-ranging issues and presented papers at both national and international conferences. He recently edited a book, Revisiting a Treasure Trove: Perspectives on the Collection at St Kuriakose Elias Chavara Archives and Research Centre. One of his latest publications is “Organization Culture and Work Values of Global Firms: Merging Eastern and Western Perspectives.”

His areas of interest are Maritime Studies, Organizational Culture and Work Values.

Apart from history, Dr. Fr. Jose is well versed in theology and philosophy. He is a passionate teacher and an able administrator.

He holds a PhD in History from Pondicherry University, India.

Lisa Curtis is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at CNAS. She is a foreign policy and national security expert with over 20 years of service in the U.S. government, including at the National Security Council (NSC), CIA, State Department, and Capitol Hill. Her work has centered on U.S. policy toward the Indo-Pacific and South Asia, with a particular focus on U.S.-India strategic relations; Quad (United States, Australia, India, and Japan) cooperation; counterterrorism strategy in South and Central Asia; and China’s role in the region.

Madhumati Deshpande (@ChristBangalore) is the Department Coordinator and Assistant Professor in the Department of International Studies, Political Science and History, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore.

Her areas of research interest include international relations and foreign policy analysis, Indian foreign policy, US foreign policy and political theory. Deshpande has previously been a graduate assistant and election observer in the Jimmy Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia and observed elections in East Timor and Guyana. She also held the position of editor for Springer Reference works. She has published several articles in various peer reviewed journals and three book chapters.

She completed her Masters in Political Science from Karnataka University, Dharwad and holds a PhD from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Jason Donofrio is the External Relations Officer at the Ocean Foundation. He is a Phoenix native with a decade of experience fundraising, organizing and coordinating public campaigns. After graduating college Jason went on to work for public advocacy and environmental organizations in Arizona, Maryland, Vermont and Colorado, leading teams as large as sixty on crucial campaigns affecting environmental conservation, civic engagement, consumer protection and higher education affordability. As a Director of various development departments, he has helped oversee multi-million dollar fundraising campaigns, develop and advocate public policy, and has experience cultivating donors to support organizational programs.

N. Manoharan (@ChristBangalore) is Director, Centre for East Asian Studies, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru. He earlier served at the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), Prime Minister’s Office, and Ministry of Defence, New Delhi. He was South Asia Visiting Fellow at the East-West Center Washington and is a recipient of Mahbub-ul Haq international award for research.

His areas of interest include internal security, terrorism, Sri Lanka, Maldives, human rights, ethnic conflicts, multiculturalism, security sector reforms and conflict resolution.

His main books include: Developing Democracies, Counter-terror Laws and Security: Lessons from India and Sri Lanka; ‘Security Deficit’: A Comprehensive Internal Security Strategy for India; India’s War on Terror; SAARC: Towards Greater Connectivity; Ethnic Violence and Human Rights in Sri Lanka. Manoharan’s forthcoming book is on Federal Aspects of Foreign Policy: The Role of Tamil Nadu Fishermen Issue in India-Sri Lanka Relations. He writes regularly for leading newspapers, websites and reputed peer-reviewed international journals.

Manoharan has a PhD from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Deepa M. Ollapally (@DeepaOllapally) is Research Professor of International Affairs and the Associate Director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at the Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University. She directs the Rising Powers Initiative which tracks foreign policy debates in major powers of Asia and Eurasia.

She is a specialist on Indian foreign policy, India-China relations, Indo-Pacific regional and maritime security, and comparative foreign policy outlooks of rising powers and the rise of nationalism in foreign policy. Ollapally is the author of five books including Worldviews of Aspiring Powers (Oxford, 2012). Her current research focuses on maritime and regional security in the Indo-Pacific and is writing a book on Big Power Competition for Influence in the Indo-Pacific. She has won grants from Carnegie Corporation, MacArthur Foundation, Smith Richardson Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and Asia Foundation for work related to India and Asia.

Ollapally has held senior positions in the policy world including US Institute of Peace, and National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University.

Cornell Overfield is Associate Research Analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses. He is an expert in transatlantic relations and international relations theory. At CNA, he has worked on projects covering Arctic security and economic activity, improved engagement with allies and partners, and data analytics. His work and writing on US national security strategy, Arctic affairs, and international maritime law have appeared in Foreign Policy, The Economist, Politico, Lawfare, and academic journals. Overfield has an MA in European and Russian studies from Yale and a BA in history and international relations from the University of Pennsylvania.

Admiral Arun Prakash, PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM is a former Flag Officer of the Indian Navy. He served as the Chief of the Naval Staff from 31 July 2004 to 31 October 2006 and as the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee from 31 January 2005 to 31 October 2006. He played an important role in developing a vision for India’s maritime strategy. He served on the 1999 Arun Singh Task Force as well as the Naresh Chandra Committee on national security reforms.

A former naval officer, Abhijit Singh, Senior Fellow, heads the Maritime Policy Initiative at ORF. A maritime professional with specialist and command experience in front-line Indian naval ships, he has been involved the writing of India’s maritime strategy (2007). He is a keen commentator on maritime matters and has written extensively on security and governance issues in the Indian Ocean and Pacific littorals. His articles and commentaries have been published in the National Bureau for Asian Research (NBR), the Lowy Interpreter, the World Politics Review, the Diplomat and CSIS Pacific Forum.

Jeff M. Smith is a research fellow in Heritage’s Asian Studies Center, focusing on South Asia.

He is the author/editor of “Asia’s Quest for Balance: China’s Rise and Balancing in the Indo-Pacific” (2018), and of “Cold Peace: China-India Rivalry in the 21st Century” (2014). He has contributed to multiple books on Asian Security issues, testified as an expert witness before multiple congressional committees, served in an advisory role for several presidential campaigns, and regularly briefs officials in the executive and legislative branches on matters of Asian security.

His writing on Asian security issues has appeared in Foreign Affairs, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, the Harvard International Review, Jane’s Intelligence Review, The National Interest, and The Diplomat, among others. In recent years his expert commentary has been featured by The Economist, The New York Times, FOX News, The Washington Times, Reuters, and the BBC, among others. Smith formerly served as the Director of Asian Security Programs at the American Foreign Policy Council.

The Sigur Center for Asian Studies, KHN (Korea and Her Neighbors), and the GW Institute for Korean Studies

Presents

International Forum on the 140th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations Between the United States and Korea

Friday, July 29th, 2022

9:20 AM – 4:00 PM EDT

State Room, 7th Floor

1957 E ST NW

In-Person ONLY

NOTE: All non-GW affiliated attendees attending the event IN-PERSON must comply with GW’s COVID-19 policy in order to attend this event, including showing proof of vaccination and masking indoors. For frequently asked questions, please refer to GW’s guidance. 

About

Please join us for an in person, international conference on 140 Years of US-Korean Relations. The conference is co-sponsored by KHN (Korea and Her Neighbors), the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, and the GW Institute for Korean Studies. The full program is below. The event will feature prominent policymakers and scholars from both the United States and South Korea. Registration is limited to 50 people.

Registration

The event is free and open to the public. If you have already registered but will no longer be able to attend, please cancel your registration.

Conference Schedule

In recent years, greater attention has been given to U.S.-Taiwan educational and cultural exchange. In December 2020, the U.S.-Taiwan Education Initiative was created to expand access to Mandarin Chinese and English language instruction and to deepen educational cooperation between both sides. Several Taiwan Studies centers in the United States have also received increased support to expand Taiwan Studies. Coinciding with the widespread closure of Confucius Institutes in the United States and the continuing political, economic, and security challenges concerning China, Taiwan, and the United States, there is a critical demand among scholars, policymakers, and educators for greater access to Mandarin Chinese language resources and expertise on Taiwan affairs. However, there exists a mismatch between the level of importance Taiwan has to U.S. foreign policy priorities and the level of resources that U.S. educational institutions dedicate to researching and teaching on Taiwan affairs.

The Taiwan Education & Research Program (TERP) and the North American Taiwan Studies Association (NATSA) are co-hosting a hybrid in-person and virtual panel to bring together scholars and administrators of Taiwan Studies programs in the United States for a discussion on the historical and present challenges, trends, and prospects for Taiwan Studies in academic and policymaking communities. The panel will examine the structural, social, and political factors that influence the development of Taiwan Studies programs, and how Taiwan Studies programs can serve as collaborative spaces between scholars, policymakers, and administrators.

This event is free and open to the public and media. A recording of the event will be made publicly available in the days following the event. Additional support for this event is provided by the Sigur Center for Asian Studies and the GW East Asia National Resource Center.

Panelists

• Ellen Y. Chang, Director, Arts and Culture Program, Taiwan Studies Program, University of Washington – Seattle
• Sung-Sheng (Yvonne) Chang, Professor; Director of the Center for Taiwan Studies, University of Texas – Austin
• Min Zhou, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies; Director, Asia Pacific Center, University of California – Los Angeles
• Elizabeth Leicester, Executive Director, Asia Pacific Center, University of California – Los Angeles

Moderator

Richard J. Haddock, Program Manager, East Asia National Resource Center; Taiwan Education & Research Program, GW

Speakers

Ellen Y. Chang is the Director of Arts and Culture at the Taiwan Studies Program at the University of Washington and a Ph.D. Candidate in Cinema & Media Studies. As a simultaneous film scholar and art curator/practitioner, her research examines the transactional encounter among contemporary Taiwanese video art/installation, cinema, and popular culture as processes of aesthetic decolonization. Her recent work on sound and audio walks explores more engaged, sensitive, and practical understandings of how audiovisual art reflects (re-)occurring themes of everyday politics across international geographies. She received her B.A. in English from National Central Taiwan University, M.A. in Film Studies from Ohio University, and M.A. in Cinema Studies from New York University.

Sung-Sheng (Yvonne) Chang is a professor in the Department of Asian Studies and the Program in Comparative Literature at the University of Texas at Austin. She is also currently the Director of the Center for Taiwan Studies at UT-Austin. Dr. Chang is the author of Literary Culture in Taiwan: Martial Law to Market Law (Columbia University Press, 2004) and Modernism and the Nativist Resistance: Contemporary Chinese Fiction from Taiwan (Duke University Press, 1993). Dr. Chang is a co-editor of The Columbia Sourcebook of Literary Taiwan (Columbia University Press, 2014) and Bamboo Shoots After the Rain: Contemporary Stories by Women Writers of Taiwan (Feminist Press, 1990). Dr. Chang’s articles have appeared in journals, edited volumes, and anthologies in English and Chinese. Dr. Chang was the President of the Association of Chinese and Comparative Literature (ACCL) in 1999-2000 and has served on a dozen editorial boards and held offices in scholarly organizations. She received her B.A. from National Taiwan University, M.A. from the University of Michigan, and Ph.D. from Stanford University. She has also taught or visited at National Taiwan University, University of Kansas, National Tsing Hua University, Fu Jen Catholic University, National Cheng Kung University, Xiamen University, and the Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy at Academia Sinica.

Min Zhou is Professor of Sociology & Asian American Studies, Walter and Shirley Wang Endowed Chair in U.S.-China Relations & Communications, and Director of the UCLA Asia Pacific Center. She is an internationally renowned scholar in the areas of migration and development, race and ethnicity, entrepreneurship, refugee studies, Asian diasporas, and the sociology of Asia and Asian America. She has published 19 books and more than 200 journal articles and book chapters. She is the author of Chinatown: The Socioeconomic Potential of an Urban Enclave (1992), The Asian American Achievement Paradox (with Lee, 2015), and editor of Contemporary Chinese Diasporas (Palgrave MacMillan, 2017). Professor Zhou is also co-Editor of the Journal of Chinese Overseas. She was the President of the North American Chinese Sociologist Association, Chair of the Section on Asia and Asian America of the American Sociological Association (ASA), and Chair of the Section on International Migration of ASA. Currently, Professor Zhou is working on four projects: “Immigration, Integration and Social Transformation in the Pacific Rim,” “Inter-group relations and racial attitudes among Chinese locals and African merchants in Guangzhou and Yiwu, China,” “Chinese immigrant transnationalism and hometown development,” and “Highly skilled Chinese immigrants in Los Angeles and Singapore.” She is writing a book (with Shaohua Zhan) on contemporary Chinese and Indian immigrants in Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Singapore. She received her B.A. in English from the Sun Yat-sen University in China, and M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from the State University of New York at Albany.

Elizabeth Leicester is the Executive Director of the Asia Pacific Center at the University of California – Los Angeles. Leicester has a B.A. from Columbia University and an M.A. from Stanford University in East Asian Studies, as well as a C. Phil. in Japanese History from UCLA. She has done research and translations on women and gender in Japan.

Moderator

Richard J. Haddock is currently the Program Manager for the East Asia National Resource Center (NRC), which is supported by a Title VI grant from the U.S. Department of Education. He is also a member of the UC Berkeley U.S.-Taiwan Next Generation Working Group, where he is conducting a research project on the current state and future prospects of Taiwan Studies in the United States. He has worked previously at the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, the National Democratic Institute, the American Institute in Taiwan, and the U.S. Department of State. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Public Administration at The George Washington University with a focus on digital democracy and e-governance development in the Asia-Pacific. He received his B.A. in Political Science from the University of Central Florida, and M.A. in Asian Studies from The George Washington University.

Thursday, September 8, 2022

9:00 AM – 10:30 AM EDT (US East Coast) | 2:00-3:30 PM BST (UK) | 4:00-5:30 PM EEST (Finland) | 8:00-9:30 PM ICT (Thailand)

Online via WebEx

About the Event

This event seeks to shed light on this dangerous situation and draw the attention of concerned citizens and policy makers in the United States, Europe and Southeast Asia to an ecological crisis of key importance to the region.

This event will be recorded and will be available on the Sigur Center YouTube channel after the event. The event is made possible by the generous support of the Chino Cienega Foundation.

Registration

The event is open to the public. Guests who register for the event will receive details for joining the Webex meeting.

Co-Sponsors

• Partnerships for International Strategies in Asia (PISA), George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
• Sigur Center for Asian Studies, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
• Siemenpuu Foundation, Helsinki, Finland

Speakers

U Win Myo Thu is a development practitioner with over 30 year’s working experiences extensively in environmental conservation and rural development. He studied at Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) for M.Sc in Rural and Regional Development with the background of B.Sc (Forestry) from Yangon University and Yezin Agriculture Institute. He professionally contributed to the numbers of policy development works such as national communication report on climate change, national biodiversity strategic action plan (NBSAP), national environmental performance assessment, national rural development strategic framework for poverty reduction and Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan (MSDP). In addition to these contributions, he has been actively advocating for cancellation of hydropower mega-dams, promotion of renewable energy, improving land tenure security of the poor and indigenous people, and strengthening common platform for civic empowerment in the process of natural resource governance. He directs a local environmental organization, Association of Advancing Life and Regenerating Motherland (ALARM) and is currently a visiting fellow at Oxford University.

Saw John Bright is a scholar-activist and a member of the Karen people from Burma, where he serves as the Head of Water Governance Program with the Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN). His research and policy advocacy works focus on fostering inclusive, informed, accountable, and equitable community-based natural resource governance in the conflict areas of Karen State, Burma. Saw John finished his MA in Sustainable International Development at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He is currently doing his external PhD program in Wageningen School of Social Sciences (WASS), Wageningen University, the Netherlands. His research is about the Salween Peace Park: Linking Alternative Grassroots-driven water governance to State Transformation Process.

Commentator

Mira Käkönen is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Tampere Institute for Advanced Studies. Over the past 15 years, she has worked in various research projects on the politics of environment and development in the Mekong Region. Her scholarly work has focused on the political ecology of water, infrastructure and climate change particularly in Laos, Cambodia and the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. She is also a board member of the Siemenpuu Foundation.

Moderator

Linda J. Yarr directs Partnerships for International Strategies in Asia (PISA) and is a research professor of international affairs at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University in Washington, DC. A political scientist and specialist on Southeast Asia, Linda Yarr has for decades fostered academic engagement in international affairs teaching and research with China, Vietnam, Myanmar, and other countries in Asia. She holds an M.A. from Cornell University, an advanced degree in international relations from Sciences Po in Paris, and a B.A. from D’Youville College.

Monday, April 25, 2022 | 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm EDT

Hybrid Event:

Lindner Family Commons (1957 E Street, NW, Room 602)

and Online via Zoom

NOTE: All non-GW affiliated attendees attending the event IN-PERSON must comply with GW’s COVID-19 policy in order to attend this event, including showing proof of vaccination and masking indoors. For frequently asked questions, please refer to GW’s guidance. 

Join us for a special conversation with Ambassador Chantale Wong as she begins her tenure as US Director of the Asian Development Bank. 

How will the Asian Development Bank (ADB) address poverty and climate change amidst evolving regional geopolitics, post-pandemic recovery, and impacts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Please join us for a special conversation with Ambassador Chantale Wong as she begins her tenure as US Director of the Asian Development Bank with a special appearance by her mentor and predecessor Ambassador Linda Tsao Yang.

Both women have blazed new trails: Linda Tsao Yang, US Executive Director to the ADB from 1993-99, was the first woman and minority representative of the US on the board of a multilateral financial institute, while Chantale Wong is the first out LGBTQ+ woman of color to be appointed to an ambassador-level position in the United States (see full bios below). Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch, USCET’s Executive Chair and a trailblazer in her own right as the first US Ambassador of Asian descent, will lead the conversation, touching on themes of mentorship, overcoming barriers, and the role of the US at the ADB. Audience members in-person and online will be invited to take part in a lively Q&A session at the event.

USCET’s Asian Women Trailblazers series recognizes the contributions of pioneering Asian American women to American society. This series features conversations with trailblazing Asian American women in leadership positions in government service, education, and journalism. Learn more about this series on the USCET website.

Registration

The event is open to the public. Guests who register for the online event will receive details for joining the Zoom meeting.

Featuring

Amb. Chantale Wong, US Exec. Director to the ADB

Video Introduction by

Amb. Linda Tsao Yang, US Exec. Director to the ADB (1993-99)

Presiding

Amb. Julia Chang Bloch, USCET Executive Chair 

Speakers

Ambassador Linda Tsao Yang served as U.S. Executive Director to the board of the Asian Development Bank in Manila from 1993 to 1999. She was appointed by President Clinton and confirmed by the Senate in 1993, the first woman and the first minority to represent the United States on the board of a multilateral financial institution. Yang Is Chair Emerita of the Asian Corporate Governance Association (ACGA) based in Hong Kong which she chaired from 2001 to 2014. From 2003 to 2010, she served on the board of the Bank of China (Hong Kong) – one of three banknote issuing banks in Hong Kong – as an independent non-executive director. Earlier in her career, she was the first minority appointed to serve as California’s Savings and Loan Commissioner; she was also the first minority appointed to the board of the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest public pension fund in the United States. She was Vice-Chairman of the Investment Committee of the board and was unanimously elected by her fellow board members to the position of Vice President of the Board. Yang was an invited panelist on International Economy at the economic summit led by then President-elect Clinton in Little Rock, Arkansas in December 1992. Ambassador Yang is a long time Board member of the 1990 Institute, a strong supporter of the Spring Bud and Microfinance programs, and is now an honorary Co-Chair of the Institute.

Moderator

Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch is founding president of the US-China Education Trust. She was the first US ambassador of Asian descent in US history. She has had an extensive career in international affairs and government service, beginning in 1964 as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sabah, Malaysia and culminating as U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Nepal in 1989. From 1981 to 1988, Ambassador Bloch served at the U.S. Agency for International Development as Assistant Administrator of Food for Peace and Voluntary Assistance and as Assistant Administrator for Asia and the Near East, positions appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. She also was the Chief Minority Counsel to a Senate Select Committee; a Senate professional staff member; the Deputy Director of the Office of African Affairs at the U.S. Information Agency; a Fellow of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and an Associate of the U.S.- Japan Relations Program of the Center for International Affairs at Harvard.