Home > Events > The Future of the Responsibility to Protect > Speaker Bios

The Future of the Responsibility to Protect

UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations 2009 Annual Conference

Keynote Speaker

Gareth Evans is the President of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. He previously participated in Australian politics, thirteen of them as a Cabinet Minister. As Foreign Minister (1988-96) he was best known internationally for his role in developing the UN peace plan for Cambodia, helping conclude the Chemical Weapons Convention, and helping initiate new Asia Pacific regional economic and security architecture. He has written or edited nine books - most recently The Responsibility to Protect: Ending Mass Atrocity Crimes Once and for All, published in September 2008. In June 2008, he was appointed to co-chair the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament. Evans received a B.A. and LL.B. from Melbourne University and a M.A. in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University.

Moderators

Asli U. Bali is an Associate Research Scholar in Law at Yale Law School. She has lectured on Comparative Political Systems of the Middle East at Princeton University and served as an Associate at the firm Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York and Paris. She engaged in extensive pro bono work relating to immigration, civil liberties, and international human rights. Bâli's research interests focus on issues of non-proliferation, human rights, terrorism and the Middle East. Recent work includes Interventionism and its Discontents in the Middle East (co-authored working paper with Aziz Rana) ; From Subjects to Citizens? The Shifting Paradigm of Electoral Authoritarianism in the Middle East (forthcoming in the Journal of Middle East Law and Governance). Ms. Bali received a B.A. summa cum laude from Williams College, a M.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and her J.D. from Yale Law School. J.D., Yale, 1999. Her Ph.D from Princeton University will be conferred later this year.

David Kaye is the Executive Director of the UCLA School of Law International Human Rights Program. For more than a decade, David Kaye served as an international lawyer with the U.S. State Department, responsible for issues as varied as human rights, international humanitarian law, the use of force, international organizations, international litigation and claims, nuclear nonproliferation, sanctions law and policy, and U.S. foreign relations law. He was a legal adviser to the American Embassy in The Hague, where he worked with the international criminal tribunals and acted as counsel to the United States in several cases before the International Court of Justice and the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal. David has taught courses in international law and human rights at Georgetown University and Whittier Law School. He received a B.A. and J.D. from UC Berkeley.

Doyle McManus is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, who has reported for more than 30 years on national and international issues from Washington, the Middle East and Europe, and covered every presidential election campaign since 1984. As the former Washington Bureau Chief, the bureau he led was widely recognized as one of Washington's best news operations, with four Pulitzer Prize winners among its 40 reporters and editors. McManus is a four-time winner of the National Press Club's Edwin Hood Award for reporting on U.S. foreign policy, most recently in 2004 for articles on the occupation of Iraq. He previously served as the foreign correspondent for United Press International. McManus graduated from Stanford University and was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Brussels.

Kal Raustiala is the Director of the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations. He holds a joint appointment between the UCLA Law School and the UCLA International Institute, where he teaches in the Program on Global Studies. Professor Raustiala's research focuses on international cooperation and conflict in areas such as environment, trade, armed conflict, dispute resolution, and intellectual property. He is currently writing a book about the extraterritorial reach of American law for Oxford University Press. Dr. Raustiala received an A.B. from Duke, a Ph.D. in Political Science from UC San Diego, and a J.D. from Harvard University.

Conference Participants

Deborah D. Avant is professor of political science and Director of International Studies and the Center for Research on International and Global Studies at University of California, Irvine. She previously was Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the George Washington University, where she directed the Institute for Global & International Studies. Her research has focused on the privatization of security, civil-military relations, military change, and the politics of controlling violence. Dr. Avant is the author of The Market for Force: The Consequences of Privatizing Security and Political Institutions and Military Change: Lessons from Peripheral Wars, along with numerous journal articles and book chapters. She received her doctorate from the University of California, San Diego.

Gary Bass is Associate Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. He works on international security, human rights and international justice. He is the author of Freedom's Battle: The Origins of Humanitarian Intervention, just published by Knopf, and Stay the Hand of Vengeance: The Politics of War Crimes Tribunals. He has also written articles and book chapters on human rights and international justice. He has written often for The New York Times, as well as writing for The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, and other publications. He received an A.B. and Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Michael Byers holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia. Prior to 2005, he was Professor of Law and Director of Canadian Studies at Duke University; from 1996-1999 he was a Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford University. Dr. Byers is a regular contributor to the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and Ottawa Citizen, and a frequent guest on the CBC, CTV and Global. His most recent book is Intent for a Nation: What is Canada For? He received his B.A. at the University of Saskatchewan, His LLB and BCL from McGill University, and his Ph.D from Cambridge University.

General Wesley K. Clark (ret.) is a Senior Fellow at the Burkle Center. During thirty-four years of service in the United States Army he rose to the rank of four-star general as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. After his retirement in 2000, he became an investment banker, author, commentator, and businessman. In September 2003 he answered the call to stand as a Democratic candidate for President of the United States, winning the state of Oklahoma. The campaign launched him to national prominence before he returned to the private sector in February 2004. His books include Winning Modern Wars; Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo, and the Future of Combat; and A Time to Lead: For Duty, Honor and Country. He received a B.S. from West Point and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University.

Roberta Cohen is Principal Adviser to the Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons and Nonresident Senior Fellow at Brookings - Bern Project on Internal Displacement. Cohen is a Senior Associate at Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of International Migration and serves on the boards or advisory committees of various human rights and humanitarian organizations. She is a human rights specialist focusing on the humanitarian and human rights aspects of emergency situations. Ms. Cohen received a Ph.D. (honorary) from the University of Bern, an M.A. from the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, and a B.A. from Barnard College.

Georgette Gagnon is the Deputy Director of the Africa Division, Human Rights Watch, where she has conducted extensive research and analysis on the Darfur crisis. An attorney and a native of Canada, she has previously investigated human rights violations in Rwanda, directed the Human Rights Department at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and worked with the Canadian International Development Agency to strengthen human rights and the rule of law in China and India. Gagnon led a Human Rights Watch mission to Darfur in 2004.

Steven Groves is the Bernard and Barbara Lomas Fellow at The Heritage Foundation's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom and is responsible for developing and running the "Freedom Project." The project's goal is to advance the cause of protecting American sovereignty, self-governance and independence while promoting Anglo-American leadership on issues relating to international political and religious freedom, human rights, and the strengthening of democratic institutions. From 2003 to 2006, he was senior counsel to the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations where he played a lead role in the subcommittee's investigation into the United Nations "Oil-for-Food" scandal. Groves received a J.D. from the Ohio Northern University College of Law and a B.A. in History from Florida State University.

Nina Hachigian is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. She is the coauthor of The Next American Century: How the U.S. Can Thrive as Other Powers Rise (Simon & Schuster, 2008). She focuses on great power relationships and U.S. foreign policy. Earlier, Hachigian was a Senior Political Scientist at RAND Corporation and, for four years, the director of the RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy. Before RAND, she had an international affairs fellowship from the Council on Foreign Relations during which she researched the internet in China. Hachigian has published numerous reports, book chapters, and journal articles, including essays in Foreign Affairs and The Washington Quarterly. Hachigian received her B.S. from Yale University and her J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Alan J. Kuperman is a tenured Associate Professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin, and Senior Fellow at the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law. He is author of The Limits of Humanitarian Intervention: Genocide in Rwanda and co-editor of Gambling on Humanitarian Intervention: Moral Hazard, Rebellion and Civil War. His articles have appeared in Foreign Affairs, International Studies Quarterly, and The New York Times, and he has chapters in many edited volumes. Prior to his academic career, he was legislative director for then-U.S. Congressman (now Senator) Charles Schumer (D-NY). He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from MIT and an M.A. in international relations and international economics from SAIS.

Edward C. Luck is Senior Vice President and Director of Studies at the International Peace Institute and Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General, in which capacity he primarily focuses on the responsibility to protect. He is currently on public service leave as Professor of Practice in International and Public Affairs of the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, where he remains Director of the Center on International Organization. A past President and CEO of the United Nations Association of the USA, he has served the UN in a variety of capacities, taught at Princeton and Sciences-Po (Paris), and founded a research center co-sponsored by the NYU School of Law and Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School. Professor Luck's most recent books include The UN Security Council: Practice and Promise (Routledge, 2006), International Law and Organization: Closing the Compliance Gap, co-edited with Michael W. Doyle (Rowman and Littlefield, 2004), and Mixed Messages: American Politics and International Organization, 1919-1999 (Brookings, 1999). Dr. Luck received a B.A. from Dartmouth College and a series of graduate degrees from Columbia University, including an MIA from the School of International Affairs, the Certificate of the Harriman Institute, and an MA, MPh, and PhD degrees in political science from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Mary Ellen O'Connell is the Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame. Prior to joining the Notre Dame faculty in 2005, Professor O'Connell taught at the Moritz College of Law of Ohio State University, Indiana University School of Law; the Bologna Center of The Johns Hopkins University, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Bologna, Italy; the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany; and the University of Cincinnati College of Law. The author of The Power and Purpose of International Law, Professor O'Connell's primary research focuses on international legal regulation of the use of force and conflict and dispute resolution, especially peaceful resolution of disputes prior to an escalation to armed conflict. She received a B.A. in History from Northwestern University, an MSc. in International Relations from the London School of Economics, an LL.B from Cambridge University, and a J.D. from Columbia University.

Dan Posner is Associate Professor in the UCLA Department of Political Science. His research and teaching focus on ethnic politics, regime change and the political economy of development in Africa. I currently organize the UCLA Comparative Politics Workshop and co-run the Working Group in African Political Economy (WGAPE). He was a Visiting Associate in Political Science at the California Institute of Technology from 2005-2007 and a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He received his A.B. in Government from Dartmouth College in 1990 and his Ph.D., from Harvard University in 1998.

Balakrishnan Rajagopal is Associate Professor of Law and Development at MIT and Director of the MIT Program on Human Rights and Justice. He formerly served with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia from 1992 to 1997 and received a Royal Award from the King of Cambodia in recognition. He has consulted with the UNDP, the World Commission on Dams, and civil society organizations. His research experience and interests are primarily in South and Southeast Asia. He received a B.L. (equivalent of J.D.) from University of Madras in India, an LLM from the American University in Washington, D.C., and an interdisciplinary SJD (Doctor of Juridical Science) from Harvard Law School.

Stephen Stedman is Director of Stanford University's Ford Dorsey Program in International Policy Studies and is a Director of "Managing Global Insecurity," a joint project with Stanford University, New York University, and the Brookings Institution. Senior Research Fellow at FSI and CISAC and Professor of Political Science, he served as the center's acting Co-Director from 2002 to 2003. Stedman's research addresses the future of international organizations and institutions, an area of study inspired by his work at the United Nations. In 2003, he was recruited to serve as Research Director of the United Nations High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change. He has served as a consultant to the United Nations on issues of peacekeeping in civil war, light weapons proliferation and conflict in Africa, and preventive diplomacy. Stedman received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Stanford University.

Kantathi Suphamongkhon is a UCLA Senior Fellow at the Burkle Center. Throughout his career Kantathi worked in many diplomatic and political capacities. He began his career in 1984 when he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand and worked at the Department of International Organizations and the Department of Political Affairs. Kantathi went on to represent Thailand as a diplomat at the United Nations in New York. He also served as an adviser on Foreign Affairs to the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Thai Parliament and as Thailand's 39th Foreign Minister. Dr. Suphamongkhon received a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California, an M.A. from American University, and a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Nicole Wilett is a Foreign Affairs Officer with the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL), where, in the Office of Africa Affairs, she is a policy officer for southern Africa, along with other areas. Nicole joined the Department as a Presidential Management Fellow in 2005, where she served in DRL's South Asia office and on the Iraq election task force. Nicole has been detailed to a number of US embassies and consulates, including in Zimbabwe and Uganda, and participated in several international election observation missions. In 2007, Nicole served as a foreign policy fellow for then-Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. Previously, Nicole worked at a number of non-profit advocacy organizations, including the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, and on political and issue campaigns. Nicole has a master's in public policy and international affairs from Indiana University and a BA from Syracuse University, where she also studied abroad in Zimbabwe.

Amy Zegart is an Associate Professor at UCLA's School of Public Affairs, where she teaches courses in U.S. foreign policy and public management. In 2003 she was awarded Public Policy Professor of the Year for excellence in teaching. Dr. Zegart has been featured by The National Journal as one of the ten most influential experts in intelligence reform. She worked on the Clinton Administration's National Security Council staff in 1993, served as a foreign policy advisor to the Bush-Cheney 2000 presidential campaign. Her publications include Flawed By Design: The Evolution of the CIA, JCS and NSC; and Spying Blind: The CIA, the FBI, and the Origins of 9/11. Dr. Zegart received a B.A. from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Conference Materials

• Conference Schedule
• Speaker Bios and Photos
• Online Registration
• Parking and Directions

Official conference website: www.international.ucla.edu/burkle/R2P