Experts

The Council on Foreign Relations' David Rockefeller Studies Program—CFR's "think tank"—is home to more than seventy full-time, adjunct, and visiting scholars and practitioners (called "fellows"). Their expertise covers the world's major regions as well as the critical issues shaping today's global agenda. Download the Printable CFR Experts Guide.

Democratization

Elliott Abrams

Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies

Former senior director for democracy and human rights, senior director for the Near East, and deputy national security adviser handling Middle East affairs in the George W. Bush administration. Former assistant secretary of state for UN affairs, human rights, and Latin America in the Reagan administration.

Jendayi Frazer

Adjunct Senior Fellow for Africa Studies

Distinguished public service professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Former assistant secretary of state for African affairs, U.S. ambassador to South Africa, and special assistant to the president and senior director for African affairs in the George W. Bush administration.

Joshua Kurlantzick

Fellow for Southeast Asia

Former foreign correspondent and journalist covering Southeast Asia. Current research focuses on reinvigorating U.S. policy toward Southeast Asia, China's strategy toward Southeast Asia, and lessons of Indonesia as a successful Muslim-majority democracy. Author of Charm Offensive: How China's Soft Power is Transforming the World, released in 2006, and of numerous articles and briefs on Southeast Asia, China, and democratization in the developing world.

Mark P. Lagon

Adjunct Senior Fellow for Human Rights

Concentration chair and visiting professor in the master of science in foreign service program at Georgetown University. Former ambassador-at-large to combat trafficking in persons and deputy assistant secretary for international organization affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

Terra Lawson-Remer

Fellow for Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy

Former senior adviser at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Assistant professor of international affairs at The New School University. Directing the CFR-sponsored study on the political economy of democratic transitions and writing a book about global economic governance and inclusive growth. Coauthor of the Social & Economic Rights Fulfillment (SERF) Index.

Shannon K. O'Neil

Senior Fellow for Latin America Studies

Senior Fellow for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Author of Two Nations Indivisible: Mexico, the United States, and the Road Ahead (Oxford University Press, 2013), which analyzes the political, economic, and social transformations Mexico has undergone over the last three decades and why these changes matter for the United States.

Carla Anne Robbins

Adjunct Senior Fellow

Award-winning journalist and national security writer. Former deputy editorial page editor for the New York Times and chief diplomatic correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. Directing a roundtable series focused on national security in an age of austerity.

Elections

Elliott Abrams

Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies

Former senior director for democracy and human rights, senior director for the Near East, and deputy national security adviser handling Middle East affairs in the George W. Bush administration. Former assistant secretary of state for UN affairs, human rights, and Latin America in the Reagan administration.

Isobel Coleman

Senior Fellow and Director of the Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Initiative; Director of the Women and Foreign Policy Program

Author of the book Paradise Beneath Her Feet: How Women are Transforming the Middle East (Random House, 2010). Contributing author to Restoring the Balance: A Middle East Strategy for the Next President (Brookings Institution Press, 2008). Coauthor of Strategic Foreign Assistance: Civil Society in International Security (Hoover Institution Press, 2006).

Meghan L. O'Sullivan

Adjunct Senior Fellow

Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Harvard University's Kennedy School. Former Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan, former advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, former member of State Department policy planning staff handling Northern Ireland peace process, Iran, Syria, and relations with the Muslim world.

Human Rights

Elliott Abrams

Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies

Former senior director for democracy and human rights, senior director for the Near East, and deputy national security adviser handling Middle East affairs in the George W. Bush administration. Former assistant secretary of state for UN affairs, human rights, and Latin America in the Reagan administration.

Isobel Coleman

Senior Fellow and Director of the Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Initiative; Director of the Women and Foreign Policy Program

Author of the book Paradise Beneath Her Feet: How Women are Transforming the Middle East (Random House, 2010). Contributing author to Restoring the Balance: A Middle East Strategy for the Next President (Brookings Institution Press, 2008). Coauthor of Strategic Foreign Assistance: Civil Society in International Security (Hoover Institution Press, 2006).

Joshua Kurlantzick

Fellow for Southeast Asia

Former foreign correspondent and journalist covering Southeast Asia. Current research focuses on reinvigorating U.S. policy toward Southeast Asia, China's strategy toward Southeast Asia, and lessons of Indonesia as a successful Muslim-majority democracy. Author of Charm Offensive: How China's Soft Power is Transforming the World, released in 2006, and of numerous articles and briefs on Southeast Asia, China, and democratization in the developing world.

Mark P. Lagon

Adjunct Senior Fellow for Human Rights

Concentration chair and visiting professor in the master of science in foreign service program at Georgetown University. Former ambassador-at-large to combat trafficking in persons and deputy assistant secretary for international organization affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

Fellow and Deputy Director of the Women and Foreign Policy Program

Journalist and researcher focusing on U.S. foreign policy, international development, women and economic development, and global entrepreneurship. Contributing editor-at-large at Newsweek/Daily Beast and author of the New York Times bestseller The Dressmaker of Khair Khana (HarperCollins, 2011), about a young woman whose business supported her family and her community during the Taliban years.

Jonathan Tepperman

Managing Editor, Foreign Affairs

Former deputy editor of Newsweek International and director at EurasiaGroup.

Rachel B. Vogelstein

Fellow for Women and Foreign Policy

Former advisor to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on global women's issues. Currently an adjunct professor of women's human rights at Georgetown University. Research focuses on the relationship between women's advancement and prosperity, stability, and security.