Core Faculty | Democratic Statecraft Lab

da Silva Cortinhas

Juliano da Silva Cortinhas is Professor of International Relations at the University of Brasília and a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia. He holds a PhD (University of Brasilia) and a MA (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul), both in International Relations. His research concentrates on International Security, National Defense, civil-military relations in Brazil, U.S. Defense Policy and decision-making theory, with emphasis on discussions about the Brazilian Defense structure and budget.

Zhirkov

Copeland

Versteeg

Mila Versteeg is the class of 1941 Research Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law. She is also the director of the Law School’s Human Rights Program. In 2017, she was named a fellow at the Andrew Carnegie Foundation of New York. Her research and teaching interests include comparative constitutional law, public international law and empirical legal studies. Most of her research deals with the origins, evolution and effectiveness of provisions in the world’s constitutions.

Owen

John M.

Meng

Anne Meng is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia. Her research centers on authoritarian politics and institutions, and game-theoretic approaches to the study of dictatorship. Her forthcoming book, Constraining Dictatorship, examines how executive constraints become established in dictatorships, particularly within constitutions and presidential cabinets. Her new book project focuses on authoritarian backsliding. She also has other work on leadership succession, autocratic parties, and electoral authoritarianism.

Lin

Syaru Shirley Lin is Compton Visiting Professor at the Miller Center and also affiliated with the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her book, Taiwan’s China Dilemma, was published by Stanford in 2016 and in Chinese in 2019. She is now researching five East Asian economies caught in the high-income trap. Previously a partner at Goldman Sachs, she spearheaded the firm’s investments in technology start-ups including Alibaba and SMIC. She currently serves on the boards of Goldman Sachs Asia Bank, Langham Hospitality Investments, Mercuries Life Insurance and Swire Pacific Limited.

Leblang

David Leblang is Ambassador Henry J. and Mrs. Marion R. Taylor Professor of Politics of politics at the University of Virginia and is a faculty associate at the Miller Center. He is also a professor of public policy at the University’s Batten School for Leadership and Public Policy, where he is director of the Global Policy Center. A specialist in political economy, Leblang has served as a consultant to the International Monetary Fund, the Directorate of Finance and Economics of the European Commission, and the Department of Defense.

Harding

Harry Harding is University Professor and Professor of Public Policy at the University of Virginia, where he was the founding dean of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. He is also Distinguished Adjunct Professor at National Chengchi University in Taiwan. Harding has previously held appointments at Swarthmore College, Stanford University, and the Brookings Institution and as Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.

Grossmann

Tobias Grossmann is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia. His research focuses on the development of the social, cognitive and brain processes that underpin adaptive social communication and behavior. He earned his Ph.D. in Psychology from the Max-Planck-Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences. Tobias has published more than 70 journal articles and his research has been continuously funded since 2008 -by the Wellcome Trust (UK), Max Planck Society (Germany) and the National Science Foundation (USA).