Tuesday, March 1 @ 1PM EsT

DR. CONSTANTINE ARVANITOPOULOS
CONSTANTINE KARAMANLIS CHAIR IN HELLENIC AND EUROPEAN STUDIES AT THE FLETCHER SCHOOL OF LAW AND DIPLOMACY, TUFTS UNIVERSITY

Constantine Arvanitopoulos, is a former Minister of Education, and Professor of International Relations at the Department of International and European Studies at Panteion University, Athens. He is a graduate of Panteion University and holds an MA and a PhD in International Relations from the School of International Service, American University, Washington DC.

He has been Lecturer on International Relations and Comparative Politics at the School of International Service at the American University (1987-89), Post-doctoral Fellow at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University (1990-92) and Assistant Professor of Government and European Politics at the Department of Public and International Affairs at George Mason University (1992-95). He was Chair of the Department of International and European Studies at Panteion University from 2006 to 2010. He was a Member of the High Council of the European University Institute, Florence, as representative of Greece, for 5 years (2004-2009).

His latest appointments include the following: Member of the Greek Parliament with New Democracy. He served as Minister of Education from June 2012 until June 2014. During his tenure as Minister of Education he ran the Presidency of the European Council (level of Ministers of Education) for 6 months (1/1/2014 – 31/6/2014) and was in close cooperation with the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, for the support of Erasmus+ Initiatives for policy innovation. On November 11, 2011 he was appointed Alternate Minister of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religion in the coalition Government of Lucas Papademos. He was Director of the Political Office of the President of New Democracy from 2009-2011.

He was the Director General of the Constantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy from 2000 to 2010. He has also served as Representative of the New Democracy Party (ND) to the National Council of Foreign Policy, Member of the Academic Council of the Centre for European Studies (CES) and Member of the Board of Directors of UNESCO-Greece. He was the spokesperson for the New Democracy Party during the national elections of September 2007.-Greece. He was the spokesperson for the New Democracy Party during the national elections of September 2007.

DOUG BANDOW
SENIOR FELLOW AT THE CATO INSTITUTE

Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan. He previously was affiliated with the Heritage Foundation and Competitive Enterprise Institute.  He writes weekly columns for the American Conservative online and Antiwar.com. Previously a columnist for Forbes online, a nationally syndicated columnist with Copley News Service, and editor of the monthly political magazine Inquiry, he has been widely published in such periodicals as Foreign Policy, Orbis, National Interest, Time, Newsweek, and Fortune, as well as leading newspapers including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. He has written several books, including Foreign Follies: America's New Global Empire (Xulon Press), Tripwire: Korea and U.S. Foreign Policy in a Changed World (Cato Institute), and The Politics of Plunder: Misgovernment in Washington (Transaction). He is co-author of The Korean Conundrum: America’s Troubled Relationship with North and South Korea (Palgrave/Macmillan).

He received his B.S. in Economics from Florida State University in 1976 and his J.D. from Stanford University in 1979.  He is a member of the California and Washington, D.C. bars.

DR. MICHAEL RUBIN
RESIDENT SCHOLAR, THE AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE

Dr. Michael Rubin is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, where he specializes in Iran, Turkey, and the broader Middle East. He also regularly teaches classes at sea about Middle East conflicts, culture, terrorism, and the Horn of Africa to deployed US Navy and Marine units.

A former Pentagon official, Dr. Rubin has lived in post-revolution Iran, Yemen, and both pre- and postwar Iraq, and he spent time with the Taliban before 9/11. He is the author, coauthor, and coeditor of several books exploring diplomacy, Iranian history, Arab culture, Kurdish studies, and Shi’ite politics, including “Seven Pillars: What Really Causes Instability in the Middle East?” (AEI Press, 2019); “Kurdistan Rising” (AEI Press, 2016); “Dancing with the Devil: The Perils of Engaging Rogue Regimes” (Encounter Books, 2014); and “Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos” (Palgrave, 2005).

Dr. Rubin has a PhD and an MA in history from Yale University, where he also obtained a BS in biology.

Please see more on Dr. Rubin’s professional work here.