People

U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus Robert Koenig

Ambassador Robert Koenig has extensive prior experience in the Aegean Sea region to be the next U.S. ambassador to the ethnically divided island nation of Cyprus. John M. Koenig has served previously in Cyprus. Born in 1958 in Tacoma, Washington, John Koenig grew up in the Puget Sound area. He earned a B.A. in Anthropology at the University of Washington circa 1980 and an M.A. in Foreign Relations at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Koenig served his first tour in Cyprus as political counselor at the embassy in Nicosia from 1994 to 1997, followed by two postings to Greece, first as political-military officer/deputy political counselor at the embassy in Athens from 1997 to 2000, and then as principal officer at the American Consulate in Thessaloniki from 2000 to 2003, where he organized the largest ever U.S. public affairs event held in Greece to that time, “Honored Nation – USA,” at the Thessaloniki International Fair.

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U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Professor Robert J. Pekkanen

Professor Pekkanen is Professor at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, Adjunct Professor of Political Science, and Adjunct Professor of Sociology at the University of Washington. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University in 2002. His research interests lie in electoral systems, political parties and civil society. He has published articles in political science journals such as The American Political Science Review, The British Journal of Political Science, and Comparative Political Studies, as well Asian studies journals includingThe Journal of Asian Studies and The Journal of Japanese Studies. He has published seven books in English on American nonprofit advocacy, Japanese civil society, and Japanese elections and political parties, and there are translations or Japanese versions of three of his books. His first book, Japan’s Dual Civil Society: Members without Advocates (Stanford: 2006) won the Masayoshi Ohira Prize in 2008 and also an award from the Japanese Nonprofit Research Association (JANPORA) in 2007.  The Japan Times also featured it as one of the “Best Asia Books” of 2006.  A Japanese translation appeared in 2008. Another book, The Rise and Fall of Japan’s LDP: Political Party Organizations as Historical Institutions, (Cornell: 2010; co-authored with Ellis S. Krauss), has earned praise in a wide range of reviews. Pekkanen has co-edited two books on Japanese elections, most recently Japan Decides 2014 about the December 2014 Japanese general election. Pekkanen’s research has been supported by the Mellon Foundation, Social Science Research Council, and the National Science Foundation, among others.