Year: 2021

Zsuzsanna Szelényi is Program Director of the CEU Democracy Institute Leadership Academy, and Senior Fellow at CEPA.

Before joining the CEU Democracy Institute, Zsuzsanna Szelényi was Richard von Weizsäcker fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin conducting research on polarization, populism, and autocratization as threats to democracy in the context of the future of the European Union.

Between 2014-2018 Ms Szelényi has been a liberal Member of Parliament in Hungary, covering foreign policy, migration, and constitutional affairs.

Before rejoining politics in 2012 in Hungary, Ms Szelényi served at the Council of Europe advising governments and NGOs on conflict management, human rights education, and human development issues. Between 2010-2013 she worked as a human development consultant for international organizations in various Central European and North African countries.

Ms. Szelenyi started her career as a member of Fidesz, a youth party at the regime change in Hungary in 1988. As a Member of Parliament, she was dealing with international and migration affairs. She left politics in 1994 for a professional career. In 2012 she returned to Hungarian politics.

Zsolt Enyedi is a Senior Research Fellow at the CEU Democracy Institute, and Professor at CEU.

Zsolt Enyedi studied comparative social sciences, history, sociology and political science in Budapest and Amsterdam. The focus of his research interests is on party politics, comparative government, church and state relations, and political psychology (especially authoritarianism, prejudices and political tolerance). His articles appeared in journals such as Political Psychology, European Journal of Political Research, Political Studies, West European Politics, Party Politics, Political Studies, Europe-Asia Studies, Problems of Post-Communism, Journal of Ideologies or European Review. Zsolt Enyedi was the 2003 recipient of the Rudolf Wildenmann Prize and the 2004 winner of the Bibó Award. He was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center (Washington D.C.), Kellogg Institute (Notre Dame University), the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies (Wassenaar), the European University Institute (Florence), the Center for Transatlantic Relations, Johns Hopkins University, DPIR and Pembroke College, University of Oxford. His most recent book, Party System Closure, co-authored with Fernando Casal Bertoa, was published by Oxford University Press in 2021.

Curriculum Vitae

Omar Al Rawi,
born 8 May 1961 in Bagdad

Married since 1988, 5 children

Languages:
German, English, Arabic

Academic qualifications:
Vienna University of Technology (civil engineering degree)

Political functions:
Since 2001:
Member of the Vienna Provincial Parliament and City Council

Member of the City Council Committee on Urban
Development, Traffic and Transport, Climate Protection,
Energy Planning and Public Participation

Expert Spokesperson of the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) on
Urban Development

Member of the City Council Committee on European and
International Affairs

Substitute Member of the City Council Committee on
Housing, Housing Construction and Urban Renewal

Jennifer McCoy, PhD, is professor of political science at Georgia State University and non-resident scholar at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She was a Senior Core Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Budapest, Hungary in spring 2019. McCoy was chosen for the inaugural class of Distinguished University Professorships at Georgia State University in 2013. Specializing in international and comparative politics, Dr. McCoy’s areas of expertise include democratic resilience; democratic erosion and partisan polarization; crisis prevention and conflict resolution; democracy promotion and collective defense of democracy; election processes and international election observation; and Latin American Politics.

Ambassador Nancy. Soderberg has served at the highest levels of government, including in the Senate, White House as the first female Deputy National Security Advisor and as an Ambassador at the United Nations. She also has vast experience with non-governmental organizations, as a business leader, and in academia. She speaks and writes regularly on national security issues. She is currently the National Democratic Institute’s Senior Resident Country Director for Kosovo

She served as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to Senator Edward M. Kennedy. President Bill Clinton appointed her as Deputy National Security Advisor and Alternate Representative to the United Nations. She was appointed by President Obama to serve as Chair of the Public Interest Declassification Board. She has also served as President of Connect U.S. Fund, as Vice President of the International Crisis Group, and on the Board of the Jacksonville Port Authority. She was the Democratic nominee for Florida’ Congressional District 6 in 2018. She has worked on numerous presidential campaigns for the Democratic nominee. Her other experiences include President and CEO of Soderberg Global Solutions, and Director of the Public Service Leadership Program at the University of North Florida.

She is a regular commentator on national and international television and radio, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Vice Chair of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. She is the author of numerous books and articles on American foreign policy. She earned a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and an M.S. from Georgetown University.