Join us for a reflection on the U.S. election results and insights into the shifting dynamics within the U.S. electorate with former CIA Director John E. McLaughlin, independent political consultant Thomas Ogorzalek, and political scientist Chloe Thurston, chaired by Marina Henke (Hertie School). This event is part of the series Challenges in International Security hosted by the Centre for International Security.
What do the U.S. election results mean not just for the U.S., but also the rest of the world?
With the U.S. presidential election fast approaching on 5 November 2024, the world is watching closely to see how the outcome will shape the future. Our upcoming event on Wednesday, 6 November, just one day after the election results, will offer an in-depth analysis of this pivotal moment. Join us as our expert speakers former CIA Director John E. McLaughlin, independent political consultant Thomas Ogorzalek, and political scientist Chloe Thurston share their impressions of the election results, exploring the dynamics they've observed within the U.S. electorate and discussing what the outcome means not just for America, but also for the rest of the world. This event is hosted by the Centre for International Security and chaired by Marina Henke (Hertie School).
Speakers
John E. McLaughlin is a Professor of Practice at the Merrill Centre for Strategic Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where he earned his master’s degree. McLaughlin served as Acting Director of Central Intelligence in 2004 and was Deputy Director from 2000 to 2004, following a three-decade career at the CIA, where he focused on European, Russian, and Eurasian issues. He played a pivotal role during the collapse of the Soviet Union, leading the CIA’s analysis of the fifteen newly independent states. McLaughlin has received numerous honours, including the National Security Medal and the William Oliver Baker Award, and has advised various government and private entities on national security and counterterrorism. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Academy of Diplomacy, and serves on advisory groups for Homeland Security, National Security, and Countering Terrorism and Extremism at the Middle East Institute.
Thomas K. Ogorzalek is a political scientist and independent consultant with a focus on urban politics, public policy, and the politics of race and ethnicity. He has a rich academic background, having studied at the University of Notre Dame, the New School for Social Research, and Columbia University, where he earned his Ph.D. His work spans various roles, including being the lead researcher and coordinator of Co-Lab Research and a visiting scholar at the Center for Urban Research at CUNY. Dr. Ogorzalek has also contributed to numerous scholarly and public venues, including the New York Times, Washington Post, and MSNBC. He is the author of the award-winning book "The Cities on the Hill: How Urban Institutions Transformed National Politics" (Oxford University Press).
Chloe Thurston is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. Her research is at the intersection of American political development and political economy and has focused on the development of social and economic policies, interest groups and social movements, institutional change, and historical analysis. Prior to coming to Northwestern in 2014, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University. She has been a Northwestern Public Voices Fellow and a Hewlett Teaching Fellow. In 2019–20, she was a member of the School of Social Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J. Thurston is the author of At the Boundaries of Home Ownership: Credit, Discrimination, and the American State (Cambridge University Press, 2018), which received the 2020 J. David Greenstone Award from the American Political Science Association’s Politics and History Section, and co-author (with Emily Zackin) of The Political Development of American Debt Relief (University of Chicago Press, 2024). Her research has been published in Perspectives on Politics, the Journal of Public Policy, Studies in American Political Development, and Politics, Groups, and Identities. Her op-eds have appeared in Ms. Magazine, Slate, and in the Washington Post.
Chair
Marina Henke is Professor of International Relations at the Hertie School and Director of the Centre for International Security. She researches and publishes on grand strategy, nuclear security and European security and defence policy. Before joining the Hertie School, she was an Associate Professor (with tenure) at Northwestern University, specialising in international relations, as well as at Princeton University where she was a Lecturer and Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. She holds a PhD in Politics and Public Policy from Princeton University, a Double Master of Science in Development Studies and International Political Economy from Sciences Po Paris and the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Politics and Latin American Studies from Sciences Po Paris. Her book “Constructing Allied Cooperation” published with Cornell University Press in 2019 won the prestigious 2020 Lepgold Best Book Award, the ISA 2020 Diplomacy section Best Book Award, and the APSA 2020 International Collaboration section Best Book Award.