Author: Anneliese Raynolds

Mona Dong is pursuing a Bachelor of Science with a double major in International Affairs and Economics. She is interested in studying international finance, sovereign debt problems, and China’s role in the global economy.

Her research project centers on understanding factors behind China’s overseas developmental finance. Her research aims to bring greater clarity into Chinese methods of economic statecraft and how China is changing the international credit landscape for developing countries.

At GWU, Mona works as a Research Assistant for Professor Maggie Chen studying how intellectual property laws impact industrial development. She also interns at the State Department’s Economic Bureau.

Isabel is pursuing a major in International Affairs with a concentration in Security Policy and a minor in Public policy. Her research aims to analyze how the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in Kenya – a roughly $4 billion project through China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – is perceived by local Kenyans and if attitudes towards China more generally have changed as a result. 

She seeks to emphasize the opinions and perspectives directly from locals through virtual interviews. Outside of class, Isabel is a dedicated member of the Delta Phi Epsilon (DPE) Professional Foreign Service Sorority and has previously interned for the Institute of World Politics and was a Virtual Student Federal Service (VSFS) intern for the Department of State on the “China in Africa” project.

Cynthia Yue graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Affairs with a concentration in International Economics. As a UNICEF Youth Ambassador, she helped reinforce the European Union’s commitment to child welfare and launched a youth advocacy campaign at the UN General Assembly that amassed over 450 million engagements. In her current role as the U.S. Youth Observer to the United Nations, she represents young people at the UN and has led global initiatives for sustainability, diversity, and human rights. Currently, she also serves as one of thirty youth representatives in the Biden-Harris Administration and MTV’s inaugural White House Mental Health Youth Action Forum. As an Elliott School Dean’s Scholar, she researched the impact of human rights and non-compulsory treaties on transnational climate change litigation. Cynthia is currently a Master in Public Policy candidate at Harvard University.

Toluwani Adedeji is studying International Affairs with a concentration in International Development, and minors in Economics and French. She recently spent a year as an intern with the Energy Sector office at the US Trade and Development Agency, and currently is an intern at an asset management fund. At GW, she is an undergraduate consultant at the Writing Center.

Her Dean’s Scholars research project focuses on the engagement of the business communities in Nigeria and Rwanda within the African Continental Free Trade Area. With this project, she hopes to understand the contemporary relevance of policies that use Pan-Africanist ideology to promote economic growth.

Nicholas Clague graduated in 2021 with a Bachelors of Arts in International Affairs concentrating in security policy. Nicholas concentrates on transatlantic security, Russia studies and sanctions policy. His primary research interests are sanctions backfilling, illicit arms trading, and Russian irregular activities in Eastern Europe.

Anshul graduated in Fall 2021 with a Bachelors of Arts in International Affairs concentrating in security policy. He has previously worked for The Institute of World Politics and the U.S. Department of State, and he has conducted research at Stanford University and the George Washington University. Anshul’s research examined at how states are responding to potential security concerns that accompany the “going dark” problem.

Eleni graduated in Spring 2021 with a Bachelors of Arts in International Affairs concentrating in Comparative Political, Economic, and Social Systems and a minor in Economics. Her research explored the ways in which Russian women were disproportionately disenfranchised following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Eleni will attend the University of Pennsylvania Carey School of Law in the fall.

Leah graduated in Spring 2021 with a Bachelors of Arts in International Affairs concentrating in International Development and a minor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Her research focused on the role of civil society in addressing gender-based violence and femicide in South Africa. Particularly, she is focused on the interplay between civil society and the National Strategic Plan on Gender Based Violence. Since graduation, she began working as a Program Associate for the Asia team at the International Republican Institute.

Zoe graduated in 2021 with a Bachelors of Arts in International Affairs concentrating in Conflict Resolution and a minor in Sustainability. Her research explored how gender is approached and treated in the formal reintegration process of former FARC-EP combatants in Colombia. She currently works as a research assistant at Sustainable GW where she contributes to projects on Arctic sustainability as well as wildfire and emergency communications.

Jacob is an Associate Research Fellow at the Emerging Technologies Institute. He was the Elliott School’s recipient of the Dean’s Scholar Award. He graduated in Fall 2020 and majored in International Affairs, with a concentration in International Politics, and a double major in Political Science. His research at GW focused on the impacts of the Brexit movement, referendum, and withdrawal from the EU on the British Conservative Party.

Publications:

“Brexit: A Fluke, or the Future of British Conservatism? Analyzing the Post-Brexit Conservative Party’s Populist Status Quo” in ESIA Dean’s Scholars Journal.