Skip to main content
Support

Decoding a World of Change for Washington

In a world marked by complexity, volatility, and a din of competing agendas, the Wilson Center is the nation’s indispensable resource for decoding today’s most pressing foreign policy challenges. Leveraging its global expertise and perspective, award-winning scholarship and analysis, and a fiercely nonpartisan spirit, the Center informs actionable ideas for policymakers across the political spectrum.

Chartered by Congress 50 years ago as a living memorial to President Wilson, the Center’s work today spans more than a dozen regional and thematic programs to tackle hot-button security issues – from the North Korean nuclear threat to the implications of a risen China and from North American trade to global cyberwarfare. The Center also serves a vital role in linking Washington to the world, hosting U.S. lawmakers and leaders from around globe, while continually expanding its unparalleled network of some 5,000 former fellows.

The next generation of policy leaders will also trace its roots to the Wilson Center, as the Foreign Policy Fellowship Program and Cybersecurity and AI Labs connect select Congressional staff with top scholars and practitioners to help prepare them for current and future challenges.

Jane Harman
Director, President, and CEO

Frederic V. Malek
Chairman of the Board of Trustees

Tagged

About the Authors

Monde Muyangwa image

Monde Muyangwa

Former Director, Africa Program
Michael Morrow

Michael Morrow

Senior Diplomatic Fellow;
Senior Foreign Service Officer, U.S. Department of State
A picture of Abraham Denmark in front of green foliage

Abraham Denmark

Former Vice President of Programs and Director of Studies; Former Senior Advisor to the Asia Program; Former Senior Fellow in the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States
Michael Kugelman

Michael Kugelman

Director, South Asia Institute
Shihoko Goto

Shihoko Goto

Director, Asia Program and Director for Geoeconomics and Indo-Pacific Enterprise
Paulo Sotero

Paulo Sotero

Distinguished Fellow, Brazil Institute
Oscar Vilhena Vieira 2

Oscar Vilhena Vieira

Global Fellow;
Dean, Getulio Vargas Foundation Law School (FGV Direito SP)
Laura Dawson

Laura Dawson

Former Fellow and Former Director, Canada Institute;
Executive Director, Future Borders Coalition
Alan D. Bersin

Alan D. Bersin

Global Fellow;
Assistant Secretary for International Affairs and Chief Diplomatic Officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Policy, and Vice President of INTERPOL for the Americas Region
Bruce Heyman

Hon. Bruce Heyman

Canada Institute Advisory Board Co-Chair;
Co-founder, Uncharted LLC; Former Ambassador of the United States to Canada
Robert Daly image

Robert Daly

Director, Kissinger Institute on China and the United States
J. Stapleton Roy

J. Stapleton Roy

Distinguished Fellow;
Founding Director Emeritus, Kissinger Institute on China and the United States
Lauren Herzer Risi

Lauren Herzer Risi

Program Director, Environmental Change and Security Program
Michael Sfraga

Dr. Michael Sfraga

Chair & Distinguished Fellow, Polar Institute // Chair, US Arctic Research Commission
Sherri Goodman, photo taken by Kristina Sherk

Sherri Goodman

Senior Fellow, Polar Institute and Environmental Change & Security Program;
Author, Threat Multiplier: Climate, Military Leadership & the Fight for Global Security, coming in 2024.    
Gwen K. Young

Gwen K. Young

Distinguished Fellow
Jean Lee Image

Jean H. Lee

Former Public Policy Fellow;
Journalist and former Pyongyang Bureau Chief, Associated Press
Cindy Arnson

Cynthia J. Arnson

Distinguished Fellow, Latin America Program
Benjamin Gedan

Benjamin Gedan

Director, Latin America Program // Director, Argentina Project
Duncan Wood

Duncan Wood

Vice President for Strategy & New Initiatives; Senior Advisor to the Mexico Institute
Earl Anthony Wayne

Earl Anthony Wayne

Public Policy Fellow;
Former Career Ambassador to Afghanistan, Argentina, and Mexico; Distinguished Diplomat in Residence, School of International Service, American University
Christopher Wilson

Christopher Wilson

Global Fellow, Mexico Institute
Aaron David Miller image

Aaron David Miller

Global Fellow
David Ottaway image

David Ottaway

Middle East Fellow;
Former Washington Post Middle East Correspondent
Robin Wright image

Robin Wright

USIP-Wilson Center Distinguished Fellow;
Author and columnist for The New Yorker
Ambassador David Balton

Ambassador David Balton

Executive Director, Arctic Executive Steering Committee, Office of Science & Technology Policy, White House; former Senior Fellow, Polar Institute, Wilson Center
Jim Townsend image

Jim Townsend

Global Fellow, Polar Institute;
Adjunct Senior Fellow, Transatlantic Security Council, Center for a New American Security; former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Europe and NATO
Matthew Rojansky

Matthew Rojansky

Distinguished Fellow, Kennan Institute;
President and CEO, U.S. Russia Foundation
William E. Pomeranz

William E. Pomeranz

Director, Kennan Institute
Mykhailo Minakov

Mykhailo Minakov

Senior Advisor; Editor-in-Chief, Focus Ukraine Blog
Meg King

Meg King

Former Director of the Science and Technology Innovation Program; Tech Labs Founder
Anne Bowser bio photo

Anne Bowser

Global Fellow
Dr. Ben Buchanan Headshot

Ben Buchanan

Global Fellow;
Senior Faculty Fellow at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) Assistant Teaching Professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service Former Postdoctoral fellow at the Belfer Center's Cyber Security Project, John F. Kennedy School Government, Harvard University

Asia Program

The Asia Program promotes policy debate and intellectual discussions on U.S. interests in the Asia-Pacific as well as political, economic, security, and social issues relating to the world’s most populous and economically dynamic region.   Read more

Africa Program

The Africa Program works to address the most critical issues facing Africa and US-Africa relations, build mutually beneficial US-Africa relations, and enhance knowledge and understanding about Africa in the United States. The Program achieves its mission through in-depth research and analyses, public discussion, working groups, and briefings that bring together policymakers, practitioners, and subject matter experts to analyze and offer practical options for tackling key challenges in Africa and in US-Africa relations.    Read more

Brazil Institute

The Brazil Institute—the only country-specific policy institution focused on Brazil in Washington—works to foster understanding of Brazil’s complex reality and to support more consequential relations between Brazilian and U.S. institutions in all sectors. The Brazil Institute plays this role by producing independent research and programs that bridge the gap between scholarship and policy, and by serving as a crossroads for leading policymakers, scholars and private sector representatives who are committed to addressing Brazil’s challenges and opportunities.  Read more

Canada Institute

The mission of the Wilson Center's Canada Institute is to raise the level of knowledge of Canada in the United States, particularly within the Washington, DC policy community.  Research projects, initiatives, podcasts, and publications cover contemporary Canada, US-Canadian relations, North American political economy, and Canada's global role as it intersects with US national interests.  Read more

Kissinger Institute on China and the United States

The Kissinger Institute works to ensure that China policy serves American long-term interests and is founded in understanding of historical and cultural factors in bilateral relations and in accurate assessment of the aspirations of China’s government and people.  Read more

Global Women's Leadership Initiative

The Global Women’s Leadership Initiative has hosted the Women in Public Service Project at the Wilson Center since June, 2012. The Women in Public Service Project will accelerate global progress towards women’s equal participation in policy and political leadership to create more dynamic and inclusive institutions that leverage the full potential of the world’s population to change the way global solutions are forged.  Read more

Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy

The Center for Korean History and Public Policy was established in 2015 with the generous support of the Hyundai Motor Company and the Korea Foundation to provide a coherent, long-term platform for improving historical understanding of Korea and informing the public policy debate on the Korean peninsula in the United States and beyond.  Read more

History and Public Policy Program

The History and Public Policy Program makes public the primary source record of 20th and 21st century international history from repositories around the world, facilitates scholarship based on those records, and uses these materials to provide context for classroom, public, and policy debates on global affairs.  Read more

Latin America Program

The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action.  Read more

Mexico Institute

The Mexico Institute seeks to improve understanding, communication, and cooperation between Mexico and the United States by promoting original research, encouraging public discussion, and proposing policy options for enhancing the bilateral relationship. A binational Advisory Board, chaired by Luis Téllez and Earl Anthony Wayne, oversees the work of the Mexico Institute.   Read more

Middle East Program

The Wilson Center’s Middle East Program serves as a crucial resource for the policymaking community and beyond, providing analyses and research that helps inform U.S. foreign policymaking, stimulates public debate, and expands knowledge about issues in the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.  Read more

Polar Institute

Since its inception in 2017, the Polar Institute has become a premier forum for discussion and policy analysis of Arctic and Antarctic issues, and is known in Washington, DC and elsewhere as the Arctic Public Square. The Institute holistically studies the central policy issues facing these regions—with an emphasis on Arctic governance, climate change, economic development, scientific research, security, and Indigenous communities—and communicates trusted analysis to policymakers and other stakeholders.  Read more

Kennan Institute

The Kennan Institute is the premier U.S. center for advanced research on Russia and Eurasia and the oldest and largest regional program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The Kennan Institute is committed to improving American understanding of Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the surrounding region though research and exchange.  Read more

Science and Technology Innovation Program

The Science and Technology Innovation Program (STIP) serves as the bridge between technologists, policymakers, industry, and global stakeholders.  Read more