Faculty
Democracy & Governance Program Directors
Daniel Brumberg, Associate Professor, Co-Director
Eusebio Mujal-León, Associate Professor, Co-Director
Barak Hoffman, Associate Director; Executive Director for the Center for Democracy & Civil Society (CDACS)
Core Faculty
Program Directors
Daniel Brumberg is an Associate Professor of Government at Georgetown University and co-director of the M.A. Program in Democracy and Governance. In addition to his co-director responsibilities, Dr. Brumberg teaches a course on the “Theories of Political Development.” He is also acting director of United States Institute of Peace’s (USIP) Muslim World Initiative in the Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention, where he focuses on issues of democratization and political reform in the Middle East and wider Islamic world.
Dr. Brumberg is a former senior associate in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Democracy and Rule of Law Project (2003-04). Previously, he was a Jennings Randolph senior fellow at USIP, where he pursued a study of power sharing in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. In addition, Dr. Brumberg was a Mellon junior fellow at Georgetown University, a visiting fellow at the International Forum on Democratic Studies, visiting professor in the Department of Political Science at Emory University, and a visiting fellow in the Middle East Program in the Jimmy Carter Center. He has also taught at the University of Chicago.
A member of the editorial board of the Journal of Democracy and the advisory board of the International Forum on Democratic Studies, Dr. Brumberg is chairman of the nonprofit Foundation on Democratization and Political Change in the Middle East. He has worked closely with a number of nongovernmental organizations in the Arab world, including the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs. Dr. Brumberg has served as an advisor to the American Academy of Arts and Science's "Fundamentalism Project," the Global Democracy Program of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the National Democratic Institute (NDI). He was a member of the NDI-Carter Center Palestinian Election Observer Delegation in January 1996, and the NDI-Carter Center Indonesian Election Observer Delegation in June 1999. He also worked closely with a number of NGO's in the Arab world, including the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (PASSIA). Dr. Brumberg is a member of the editorial board of the American Political Science Association’s Political Science and Politics.
He received his B.A. from Indiana University and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
Eusebio Mujal-León is a professor and former Chair of the Department of Government at Georgetown University, where he is also co-director of the M.A. Program in Democracy and Governance and director of the Cuba XXI Project. In addition to his co-director responsibilities, Dr. Brumberg teaches courses on "Democracy and Governance" and "Comparative Democratization" for the M.A. Program in Democracy and Governance.
A specialist in West European and Latin American politics, Dr. Mujal-León has written numerous articles and is the author and editor of several books.Among these, Communism and Political Change in Spain (1983), Spain at the Polls -- The General Elections of 1997, 1979, and 1982 (1985), European Socialism and the Conflict in Central America (1989), The USSR and Latin America (1989), The Cuban University under the Revolution (1989) and Die Sozialistische Internationale in den 80er Jahren (1995). Most recently, he has written on Cuban politics, including an article "Much Ado about Something? Regime Change in Cuba" (published in Problems of Post-Communism), a book chapter entitled “Is Castroism a Political Religion?” another chapter entitled “Exceptionalism and Beyond: Civil-Military Relations in Cuba,” as well as an article -- “Can Cuba Change? Tensions in the Regime” – published in the Journal of Democracy. He is also at work on projects about Cuban civil society and on the role of external actors in Cuban political dynamics as well as a book on regime change in Cuba.
Dr. Mujal-León was awarded the title of Caballero in the Order of Isabel la Católica in 1990. Over the past decade, he has also been a Visiting Fellow at the Center of International Studies of Princeton University and a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the Smithsonian Institution, and taught at numerous universities in Europe and Latin America. A frequent visitor to Spain, Dr. Mujal-León held a Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Madrid and has been a Visiting Professor at the Ortega y Gasset Institute.
Dr. Mujal-León received his B.A. in History (1971) and his J.D. in Law (1974) from the Catholic University of America and his Ph.D. in Political Science (1980) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Barak D. Hoffman is the Executive Director of the Center for Democracy and Civil Society at Georgetown University and associate director of the M.A. Program in Democracy and Governance. His courses include “The Politics of Economic Reform,” “Research Methods in Democracy and Development,” “Political Institutions,” and “The Politics of Sub-Saharan Africa.” Concurrently, Dr. Hoffman has also served as a consultant to the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), an expert witness on political asylum for Connelly and Williams, LLP, an election observer for Democracy International, and the Director of Georgetown University’s program in Tanzania.
Dr. Hoffman has eight years experience in international development. His most recent project is conducting the first-ever exit polls sub-Saharan African elections that examine the determinants of vote choice in the region’s electoral contests. The poll Dr. Hoffman and his colleagues conducted in Kenya’s 2008 presidential election provided the most conclusive evidence of fraud from the contested official results. Dr. Hoffman has also conducted extensive research on local government in sub-Saharan Africa. He has received grants from the National Science Foundation, the University of California’s Institute for Global Cooperation and Conflict, and the National Security Education Program, and was a Fulbright Scholar.
Prior to coming to Georgetown, Dr. Hoffman held numerous academic and public sector posts. He was a research fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University. As an economist at the United States Department of the Treasury, he worked on the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief program and on reform of IMF and World Bank structural adjustment programs. As an economist at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Dr. Hoffman developed programs to raise incomes for small farmers. He also served as a Research Associate for the Federal Reserve.
Dr. Hoffman received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego, and his BA and MA in Economics from Brandeis University and Michigan State University, respectively.
Core Faculty
Dr. Steven Heydemann serves as an adjunct professor in Georgetown University’s M.A. Program in Democracy and Governance, where he teaches “Comparing Democratic Transitions.” He is currently vice president of the Grants and Fellowships Program at the United States Institute of Peace, where he also serves as special adviser to the Muslim World Initiative.
Dr. Heydemann’s research and teaching have focused on the comparative politics and the political economy of the Middle East. His interests include authoritarian governance, economic development, social policy, political and economic reform, and civil society. Dr. Heydemann has also researched the relationship between institutions and economic development and philanthropy and the nonprofit sector.
From 2003 to 2007, Dr. Heydemann directed the Center for Democracy and Civil Society at Georgetown University. From 2001 to 2003, he was director of the Social Science Research Council’s Program on Philanthropy and the Nonprofit Sector, with additional responsibility for development of new programs. Prior to that, he was a program director at the SSRC, where he ran the Council’s Program on International Peace and Security and its Program on the Near and Middle East (1990-1997). From 1997 to 2001, he was an associate professor in the department of political science at Columbia University.
Dr. Heydemann has held visiting faculty positions at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute in Florence (2001) and as a senior fellow at the Yale University Center for International Studies (1997). He has served on the board of directors of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) of North America and is currently a member of MESA’s Committee on Public Affairs. Dr. Heydemann received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
Tom Melia is an adjunct professor in Georgetown University’s M.A. Program in Democracy and Governance, where he has taught “Democratic Change: Policies, Practices, and Politics” and co-taught “Parties and Elections: Foundations of Democracy” with Ivan Doherty. He currently serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, at the United States Department of State. Before joining the State Department, he served as the Deputy Executive Director of Freedom House.
Prior to Freedom House, Mr. Melia served as Director of Research at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, and Adjunct Professor in the School of Foreign Service, at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he continues to teach graduate courses about democracy promotion. For more than a dozen years, Mr. Melia held senior posts at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), a leading non-governmental organization engaged in the promotion of democracy worldwide. From 1998 to 2001, he was the Institute's Vice President for Programs. Earlier, he managed the Institute's programs in Central and Eastern Europe (1988 to 1993), in the Middle East (1993 to 1996), and directed programs in more than a dozen African countries.
Mr. Melia was Associate Director of the Free Trade Union Institute of the AFL-CIO (1986 to 1988). Prior to that he served for six years as Legislative Assistant for foreign and defense policy to U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY). Mr. Melia received his M.A. in Africa Studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
Ivan Doherty is an adjunct professor with Georgetown University’s M.A. Program in Democracy and Governance, where he teaches “Parties and Elections: Foundations of Democracy” with Tom Melia. He is currently senior associate and director of political party programs at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI). As the Institute's principal in-house expert on political party development, he currently oversees party development programs in more than 45 countries and is responsible for building NDI's relationships with political party international organizations and other democracy foundations.
Mr. Doherty also serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the World Movement for Democracy, and leads NDI's participation in a number of other global and regional initiatives, including the Community of Democracies, the OAS Inter-American Forum on Political Parties, and the UN Conference on New or Restored Democracies.
Mr. Doherty is a frequent guest lecturer, speaking at a number of institutions including the U.S. State Department Foreign Training Institute and the Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. Mr. Doherty also served as foreign policy advisor from 2005 – 2008 to Governor Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Mr. Doherty has an extensive background in political party development and international affairs. He worked for more than 15 years with Ireland's Fine Gael Party in a number of senior positions, including assistant national director of organization, deputy general secretary, and general secretary from 1990 to 1994. Appointed government program manager in 1994, Mr. Doherty was assigned to Ireland's Ministry of Tourism and Foreign Trade. He has served as senior advisor to the European People's Party parliamentary grouping in the European Parliament, played a role in the Irish Presidency of the EU and the WTO Ministerial in 1996, and conducted Irish trade promotion missions around the world.
Mr. Doherty speaks and writes often about political parties and political party development. His publications include "Democracy Out of Balance: Civil Society Can't Replace Political Parties", which appeared in Policy Review in 2001.
Moana Erickson currently serves as an adjunct professor in Georgetown University’s M.A. Program in Democracy and Governance, teaching “Governance and the Rule of Law.” She has ten years of professional work experience in international development and large-scale project management. She is a skillful director of public policy initiatives in the field of governance and rule of law in Asia, South Asia, Middle East, Africa and South America.
Ms. Erickson has a demonstrated record of designing and implementing projects at the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Justice, European Union, Center for Comparative & Public Law at the University of Hong Kong, and the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. Her extensive experience in international development has honed her analytical ability to prioritize and problem-solve objectives in a team-oriented environment. Additionally, Ms. Erickson communicates effectively in public presentations in both professional and academic environments.
Ms. Erickson is a graduate of the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and holds a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where her concentration was in international law and public policy. She has served as a judicial intern at the U.S. Supreme Court and as a federal clerk at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Ms. Erickson was previously awarded a Henry Luce Foundation Fellowship to the University of Hong Kong’s Centre for Comparative and Public Law, where she was engaged in project management of international treaty compliance by the Hong Kong government before United Nations committees. She has authored articles on international policy issues for the Hong Kong Law Journal, Centre for Comparative and Public Law’s Policy Paper Series, Center for Strategic & International Studies’ Commentary Series, World Bank’s Development Outreach publication, and Georgetown University’s Center for Democracy and Civil Society.
Eric Bjornlund is an adjunct professor with Georgetown University’s M.A. Program in Democracy and Governance, teaching “Democracy, Governance, and Stabilization,” and co-teaching “Democracy Promotion and Democratic Theory” with Dr. Andrew Green. Mr. Bjornlund is also co-founder and principal of Democracy International. A lawyer and development professional with two decades of international experience, Mr. Bjornlund has designed, managed, and evaluated democratic development programs in 30 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Eurasia, and the Middle East. He has worked in the areas of international and domestic election monitoring, election systems and administration, political party building, legislative development, constitutional and legal reform, decentralization, women’s political empowerment, civil-military relations, civic and voter education, and civil society advocacy. He has extensive experience with assessments, evaluations, project designs, democracy assistance studies, and survey research and has led projects in emerging democracies, semiauthoritarian countries, postconflict societies, and failed and failing states. Mr. Bjornlund currently serves as Senior Technical Advisor for Democracy International’s indefinite quantity contracts for Elections and Political Processes and Democracy and Governance Analytical Services.
From 1989 to 2000, Mr. Bjornlund worked for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) in various senior positions in Washington and overseas. As Senior Associate and Asia Director (1994-95, 1996-2000), he developed and managed democracy and governance programs in 14 countries in South, Southeast, and East Asia. As NDI Country Director (Chief of Party) in Indonesia (1999-2000), he developed and oversaw a multimillion-dollar USAID-funded program in support of elections, election monitoring, political parties, legislative strengthening, and NGO advocacy in the world’s largest predominately Muslim country. He also served as Country Director (Chief of Party) in the West Bank and Gaza (1995-96), Director of Program Coordination and General Counsel (1992-95), and Senior Program Officer (1989-92) at NDI. From 2000 to 2001, Mr. Bjornlund was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. In 2004, he served as Field Office Director for The Carter Center in Indonesia, where he directed a comprehensive international election monitoring program. Earlier in his career, he practiced corporate and international law for four years at Ropes & Gray in Boston, Massachusetts, one of the nation’s largest law firms.
Mr. Bjornlund has written and spoken extensively about transitional and postconflict elections, democratization, legal reform, and international democracy promotion. He is author of Beyond Free and Fair: Monitoring Elections and Building Democracy (Washington, Baltimore and London: Wilson Center Press and Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004), which explores the history and evolution of international and domestic election monitoring and offers insight into how the international community can more successfully advance democracy around the world. He also has published numerous book chapters, articles, essays, and assessment reports. Mr. Bjornlund has testified on many occasions before Congress and the United Nations and has spoken at conferences and universities throughout the world. He has served as an expert on election commissions and election monitoring for the U.S. State Department and has appeared on television and radio in the U.S. and abroad, including on the BBC, C-SPAN, CNN, National Public Radio, Voice of America, and other media outlets.
Mr. Bjornlund holds a J.D. from Columbia University, an M.P.A. from John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a B.A. magna cum laude from Williams College.
Dr. Daniel Calingaert is currently an adjunct professor with Georgetown University’s M.A. Program in Democracy and Governance, teaching “Democratic Change: Policies, Practices, and Politics.” He oversees Freedom House's wide range of civil society and media programs as the Deputy Director of Programs. Dr. Calingaert is also Professorial Lecturer at American University, where he teaches courses on democracy.
Dr. Calingaert previously served as Associate Director of American University's Center for Democracy and Election Management and as Associate Director of the Commission on Federal Election Reform, which was co-chaired by Jimmy Carter and James A. Baker, III. Dr. Calingaert has served as Director for Asia and as Deputy Director for Eastern Europe at the International Republican Institute, where he designed and managed a wide range of programs to promote democracy. These programs strengthened civil society, parliaments, governance, political parties, and elections in more than a dozen countries.
Dr. Calingaert began his career as a researcher at the RAND Corporation and later directed programs of the Civic Education Project to reform social science education at universities across Eastern Europe and Eurasia. He graduated with highest honors in International Relations from Tufts University and earned his M.Phil. and D.Phil. from Oxford University.
Jeff Fischer is an adjunct professor with Georgetown University’s M.A. Program in Democracy and Governance, teaching “International Electoral Policies and Practices.” He currently serves as Team Leader for the Electoral Education and Integrity Program at Creative Associates International, Inc.
Mr. Fischer has held three internationally appointed positions in post-conflict electoral transitions. In 1996, he was appointed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to serve as Director General of Elections for the first post-conflict elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1999, Mr. Fischer was appointed by the United Nations (UN) as Chief Electoral Officer for the Popular Consultation for East Timor. And, in 2000, he received a joint appointment from the UN and OSCE to head the Joint Registration Taskforce in Kosovo and served as the OSCE’s Director of Election Operations in Kosovo. Additionally, Mr. Fischer served as a senior advisor to the UN and Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq during the 2005 election cycle.
Since 1987, Mr. Fischer has participated in electoral assistance, observation, or conference projects in over 50 countries and territories in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Much of this participation was through his 16 year association with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) as Executive Vice President, Senior Advisor, and in various consulting roles. Mr. Fischer has also served as a municipal and state election official in the United States as both a Commissioner on the Kansas City (Missouri) Election Board (1985 – 1989) and the Missouri Campaign Finance Review Board (1990-1992).
Mr. Fischer has been a Visiting Lecturer in International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University teaching a policy seminar on Elections in Fragile States (2006 – 2009). Mr. Fischer has a Master of Science from George Mason University in Peacekeeping Operations Policy.
Dr. Marc Chernick teaches in Georgetown University’s Department of Government and the Center for Latin American Studies. For Georgetown’s M.A. Program in Democracy and Governance, he teaches “The Politics of Human Rights: Latin America in Comparative Perspective.”
Dr. Chernick has written widely on issues of political violence, drug-trafficking and conflict resolution in the Andean region of South America with particular focus on Colombia and Peru. He previously taught and served as Acting Director of the Latin American Studies program at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and earlier as the Assistant Director of the Institute of Latin American and Iberian Studies at Columbia University. He also worked for several years as a professor at the University of Los Andes and the National University of Colombia, both in Bogotá, and was a Visiting Professor/ Researcher at FLACSO-Ecuador in Quito and the Institute of Peruvian Studies in Lima.
Dr. Chernick has been a consultant to the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program, the U.S. Department of State and the government of Switzerland on projects to promote peace and conflict resolution in Colombia, and has been an advisor to USAID on issues of democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Colombia, Bolivia, Mexico, El Salvador, and Peru and on related issues in Zambia and Nigeria. Currently he is working with a team of international scholars on a cross-regional research project on insurgent groups and paths to settlement of internal armed conflicts sponsored by the Norwegian Government and the Social Science Research Council contributing research on the FARC guerrillas of Colombia and the Shining Path of Peru.
Dr. Chernick has written widely on drug trafficking, political violence, and negotiated settlement to internal armed conflicts and has recently completed a book on peace negotiations and the armed conflict in Colombia (2005), and is the editor and co-author of another study for the United Nations Development Program on Conflict Prevention and Early Warning in Latin America, focusing on the case of Colombia (2005). He received his Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University.
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