Nov. 20, 2018

The Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination has hosted a seminar on Emerging Foreign and Security Dimensions. The seminar discusses emerging security challenges from strategic developments, inter-state and intra-state perspectives, self-determination, climate and environmental issues, to migration and leadership challenges in the region spanning from Vancouver to Vladivostok. 

A key feature of the seminar is the participating student fellows, chosen through a competitive application. Student participants were chosen from a variety of departments and programs, bringing their specific academic backgrounds, interdisciplinary methodologies, and professional experiences to bear on key issues related to religion and international politics. EFSD fellows will use their research as a basis for academic publication, future thesis and dissertation work, and have utilized their research through the course of internships at places such as the UN, State Department, and a variety of international governments, media outlets, and NGOs. Participating students are required to complete brief assignments/commentary (ca 2,000 words) after each seminar and compose a ca 6,000-word final paper by end of Fall Semester. Selected papers will be presented at an international meeting abroad at Spring 2019.

 

The EFSD 2018/19 Student Fellows are:

 

Marcelo Jaimes Lukes is a senior in the Department of the Politics from New York City. Having studied Swedish defense policy at the Stockholm School of Economics, his senior thesis addresses how non-aligned states in the Baltic are adapting to face threats from the east. Marcelo’s research also focuses on the extent to which these states collaborate with aligned counterparts near Russian borders to stave off military aggression. Marcelo drafted intelligence and security policy as the United States representative to the European Youth Parliament in Vienna in 2016 and studied Turkish language and history at Ankara University in 2014. He is a native speaker of Spanish and proficient in French, Swedish, Turkish and Portuguese.

Sakari Ishetiar is a Master's candidate in Public Policy at Princeton University. Prior to beginning an MPA at Princeton, Sakari worked as a Washington, DC-based US government contractor. With a background in communications, Sakari focuses on the role of public diplomacy within international affairs. His research has also highlighted policy gaps in US- Russian multilateral relations. Recently, Sakari interned at the U.S. Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (US- OSCE), working to strengthen the European neighborhood via consensus and open dialogue.

John Falcone hails from New Jersey and actively serves as a Surface Warfare Officer in the United States Navy. Immediately after graduating  from Yale University in 2011, he worked as an investment banker in  Barclays Capital’s Financial Institutions Group. Following his analyst years, John earned his commission as a Naval officer in 2013. He has deployed to the Mediterranean Sea, Horn of Africa and Western Pacific onboard the USS GONZALEZ (DDG 66) and the USS JOHN S MCCAIN (DDG 56). Recently, John interned at the United Nations Operations Crisis Centre as a Political Affairs Officer focused on sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia human rights challenges and political elections. As a U.S. Navy Fleet Scholar Education Program fellow, John will return to an operational sea-going command after his studies at Princeton. 

Dan Mejia is a proud Jersey boy excited to be coming back home to the Princeton area after being based primarily overseas for the last 11 years. He is a former Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State who served in Jakarta, Beijing, Toronto, and Washington DC HQ in a wide variety of political, environmental, and consular roles. In his two years prior to Princeton, he served as the Global Policy Officer for the International Bamboo and Rattan Organization in Beijing, promoting the sustainable use of bamboo for smallholder livelihoods throughout the Global South for the only multilateral organization headquartered in China. He started his career in political and security issues but is becoming increasingly interested in the intersection of international development and environmental public policy. He speaks fluent Spanish and intermediate Chinese Mandarin, and he graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Government. 

Alexandra Veyne is a sophomore concentrating in the Woodrow Wilson School with a focus on the Greater Middle East at the nexus between human rights and international security––specifically terrorism, insurgency, arms trade and covert action. Last year she was involved with the Liechtenstein Institute as a PORDIR fellow. She spent summer 2018 studying Russian in St. Petersburg, Russia. Alexandra was born and raised in France.

Riccardo Lapi was born and raised in Italy. He is a sophomore, planning to study Economics with a focus on Political Economy and a certificate in Finance. His passion for international relations comes from his family background, and his goal is to serve his country in the European and in the international context. Among his interests are the implications of the welfare state for democracy, and the importance of value-driven politics to encourage active participation in civil society.

Shafaq Khan is a sophomore from Long Island, New York. A prospective Woodrow Wilson School major, her Muslim and Pakistani-American background animate her academic interests in human rights, conflict mediation, and ethics of war. Outside of LISD, she serves as Vice President of the Princeton College Democrats, and is a part of the Muslim Students Association, the Pace Center for Civic Engagement, and the James Madison Program. Through this seminar, she hopes to leverage her knowledge of history and politics and apply it to ongoing issues in international relations. She hopes to dispel prevailing Orientalist views and practices that stymie new political possibilities. 

Jacob Brown is a Princeton University student pursuing a degree in electrical engineering with a certificate (minor) from the Woodrow Wilson School. Hailing from Toronto, Canada, Jacob has served as a political and economic intern at the U.S. State Department in Canada, and has also worked in the tech start-up world. His interests lie in the quantitative analysis of geopolitical risk, digital privacy and security issues, and of course, the US -Canada bilateral relationship. An avid outdoorsman, Jacob enjoys backcountry wilderness adventures, and is interested in learning how multilateral institutions can incentivize countries to see that environmental protection is both in their rational self-interest and fully compatible with free market economic growth. 

Jennifer K. Johnson is a first year MPA candidate at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. She graduated in 2015 with high honors from The University of Texas at Austin, completing a thesis on ethnic federalism in post-communist Russia and studying abroad at Sciences Po-Paris and the Moscow Higher School of Economics. During her undergraduate career, Jennifer spent two years as an undergraduate researcher in the Innovations for Peace and Development Lab, investigating the relationship between development aid and conflict. She also completed internships at the Supreme Headquarters of NATO, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and a think tank in Dakar, Senegal. Prior to Princeton, Jennifer spent two years working as a Program Coordinator for the Clements Center for National Security, facilitating the center’s research and programs on the role of history in policymaking. This past summer, she returned to Brussels to work with the Policy Planning team of the Secretary General at NATO HQ. 

Karen Gallagher-Teske is a recent graduate of Princeton with a bachelor’s degree in economics and certificates in Chinese language and political economy. Karen supports LISD research on North Korea and will soon be working at the Financial Stability Board. Some of her interests are European politics, Chinese - European economic relationships, and global trade, migration and investment flows. 

Kiara Rodriguez Gallego is a Senior in the Woodrow Wilson School with certificates in East Asian Studies and Chinese Language and Culture. Her academic focus is on conflict and cooperation and China's foreign relations, and her current thesis research centers on understanding how the different resolutions of territorial disputes explain Chinese foreign policy and the nature of its rise. In the past, she has conducted research on Southeast Asian macroeconomic landscape at an investment firm in Singapore and on Chinese investments in Africa at Brookings Institution in DC. By participating in this seminar, she hopes to learn more about changing dynamics in global governance and better understand what makes for effective inter and intra-state resolutions of conflict.