International Affairs Experts

Susan Aaronson

Susan Ariel Aaronson, Research Professor of International Affairs, is the Director of the Digital Trade and Data Governance Hub. Her research focuses on AI governance, data governance, competitiveness in data-driven services such as XR and AI, and digital trade.  

Alyssa Ayres

Alyssa Ayres is dean of the GW Elliott School of International Affairs. She is a foreign policy practitioner and award-winning author with senior experience in the government, nonprofit, and private sectors. Her expertise includes United States relations with the larger South Asian region.

Sina Azodi

Sina Azodi's research interests include international security, nuclear nonproliferation, and U.S.-Iranian relations. His Doctoral dissertation "Iran's Nuclear Program: A Struggle for Security and Modernity" traces the evolution of Iran's nuclear program. His expertise also includes international relations of the Middle East, Iranian Foreign Policy, and Iranian politics.

Michael Barnett

Michael Barnett, University Professor of International Affairs and Political Science, is an expert on humanitarianism, international affairs, global governance and the Middle East. His current research projects range from international paternalism and the changing architecture of global governance to the relationship between human rights and humanitarianism.

Nathan Brown

Nathan Brown is director of the GW Institute for Middle East Studies. His areas of expertise include the government and politics of the Middle East, democratization and constitutionalism and rule of law in the Arab world. Brown’s research focuses on comparative politics and Middle Eastern politics.

Yvonne Captain

Yvonne Captain, associate professor, is an expert on the African Diaspora and South-South Relations. She explores unforeseen ties among communities of African descent, mostly in the Americas. Her studies of South-South relations focus on Latin America and Africa and how these communities seek to govern themselves in an increasingly global polity.

Christina Fink

Christina Fink, a practice professor of international affairs, is an expert on Southeast Asia, in particular Myanmar. Her current research includes political reform and development in Myanmar and the role of civil society in Myanmar and Southeast Asia.

Bruce Dickson

Bruce Dickson, professor of political science and international affairs, is an expert on Chinese domestic politics, regimes and regime change, comparative politics and U.S.-China relations. Dickson’s research focuses on political dynamics in China, especially the adaptability of the Chinese Communist Party; the political consequences of economic reform in China; the Chinese Communist Party’s evolving strategy for survival; and the changing relationship between state and society.

Donald C. Clarke

Donald C. Clarke, a professor of law, is a specialist in Chinese law. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and has published extensively on subjects ranging from Chinese criminal law and procedure to corporate governance. His recent research has focused on Chinese legal institutions and the legal issues presented by China’s economic reforms.

Alexander Downes

Alexander Downes, associate professor of political science and international affairs, is an expert on international security, civilian victimization in war and the consequences of foreign-imposed regime change. His research focuses on the consequences of foreign-imposed regime change for intervener-target relations and outcomes in target countries; alliance choices of minor powers allied with a major power in decline; the effectiveness of population relocation strategies in counterinsurgency; and the effectiveness of international humanitarian law at reducing civilian casualties in war.

Graciela Kaminsky

Graciela Kaminsky, a professor of economics and international affairs, is an expert on macroeconomics, international finance, and monetary policy. Her research covers a variety of topics in macroeconomics and international finance, including financial globalization, international borrowing cycles, sovereign debt crises, currency and banking crises, financial contagion, and inflation stabilization policies.

Gordon Gray

Richard Grinker

Richard Grinker is a professor of anthropology and international affairs. He is a cultural anthropologist specializing in ethnicity, nationalism, and psychological anthropology, with topical expertise in autism, Korea, and sub-Saharan Africa. He is also the director of GW's Institute for Ethnographic Research  and editor-in-chief of of the journal Anthropological Quarterly.

Henry Hale

Henry Hale, professor of political science and international affairs, specializes in political regimes, ethnic politics, federalism, democratization, political parties and politics of post-Soviet countries. He has completed extensive research on post-Soviet Eurasia and is currently working on identifying politics and political system change with a special focus on public opinion dynamics in Russia and Ukraine.

Hope Harrison

Hope Harrison, a professor of history and international affairs, is an expert on Germany, Russia, the Cold War, the Berlin Wall, and the politics and culture of memory. She is the author of “After the Berlin Wall: Memory and the Making of the New Germany, 1989 to the Present.”

Jennifer Brinkerhoff

Jennifer Brinkerhoff is a professor of international affairs, international business, and public policy and public administration. Her areas of expertise include public-private partnership, governance, NGOs, development management and diasporas. She has previously consulted for multilateral development banks, bilateral assistance agencies, NGOs, and foundations.

Jisoo Kim

Jisoo Kim is the Korea Foundation Associate Professor of History, International Affairs, and East Asian Languages and Literatures and director of the GW Institute for Korean Studies. She specializes in gender and legal history of early modern Korea. Her broader research interests include crime and justice, forensic medicine, history of emotions, literary representations of the law, and gender and sexuality.

Dina Khoury

Dina Khoury, professor of history and international affairs, is an expert on the history of the Middle East. Her research and writing focuses on war and memory, specifically on the early modern and modern history of the Middle East. 

Kathryn Kleppinger

Kathryn Kleppinger's research and teaching center on the related fields of French cultural studies and contemporary French and Francophone Literature. Her research aims to propose alternative ways of thinking about France’s (and Europe’s, more generally) immigration debates. In addition, she has published articles on Francophone literature from several regions, including Algeria, Morocco, Congo, and Cameroon.

Eric Kramon

Eric Kramon, assistant professor of political science and international affairs, is an expert on the political economy of development, democratic accountability, African politics, vote buying, ethnic politics and distributive politics. His research focuses on barriers to accountability and good governance in developing democracies, with a regional focus on sub-Saharan Africa.