ABOUT THE GUESTS
Dr. George
Soroka
Lecturer on Government, Harvard University
Dr. George Soroka is Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies and a lecturer on Government at Harvard University, from where he received his M.A. in Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies and Ph.D. in Political Science. His core intellectual interests lay in deciphering how elites gain, transfer, and legitimate the use of power – whether it be religious, military, economic, or political – and he is currently working on several long-term research projects and publications to examine these topics in great depth.
Dr. Ely
Ratnor
Vice President and Director of Studies, Center for a New American Security
Dr. Ely Ratner is the Executive Vice President and Director of Studies at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), and previously served as the deputy national security advisor to Vice President Joe Biden and in the office of Chinese and Mongolian affairs at the State Department. He has also worked in the U.S. Senate as a professional staff member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in the office of Senator Joe Biden, and as the Maurice R. Greenberg senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is published widely on U.S.-China relations and U.S. national security strategy in Asia. Ratner received his B.A. from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.
Sarah
Repucci
Senior Director for Global Publications, Freedom House
Sarah Repucci leads Freedom House’s flagship Freedom in the World and Freedom of the Press publications. With more than ten years of experience in research and evaluation techniques in the areas of democracy, human rights, and good governance, she has also worked for Transparency International and the Global Business Initiative on Human Rights, and as an independent consultant for a range of NGOs, bilateral and multilateral organizations, and private businesses. She holds a master’s degree from New York University and a BA from Williams College.
Thor
Halvorssen
President, Human Rights Foundation
Thor Halvorssen is the Founder, President, and CEO of the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), Founder of both the Oslo Freedom Forum and the Moving Picture Institute, former founding CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), and the Patron of the Prague-based Children’s Peace Movement, On Own Feet. Described by The New York Times as “a champion of the underdog and the powerless,” he is a world-renowned human rights advocate, film producer, and regular columnist with contributions in the field of public policy, public interest advocacy, individual rights and civil liberties, and pro-democracy advocacy. Halvorssen, a Venezuelan native, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude, with undergraduate and graduate degrees in political science and history.