Profile

Robert Pastor

Professor
School of International Service

  • Additional Positions at AU

    Director, Center for North American Studies, SIS
    Co-Director, Center for Democracy and Election Management, SPA
  • Dr. Robert Pastor is a professor of international relations and director of the Center for North American Studies and the Center for Democracy and Election Management. From 2002-07, he was Vice President of International Affairs at AU where he transformed and expanded the study abroad program, established the American University of Nigeria, and initiated new programs on language immersion and “Abroad at AU.” He has served in government as National Security Advisor for Latin America, and he was a Senior Fellow and director of programs on democracy, Latin America, and China at the Carter Center.
  • Degrees

    PhD, government, Harvard University; MPA, public administration, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; BA, history, Lafayette College
  • Languages Spoken:

    Spanish and Indonesian
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  • FOR THE MEDIA

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Teaching

  • Spring 2013

    • SIS-653 Topics in U.S. Foreign Policy: Major Powers & Critical Issues
    • Description
  • Fall 2013

    • SIS-653 Topics in U.S. Foreign Policy: For Pol of Major/Emerg Powers
    • Description

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Research Interests

U.S. foreign policy, North America, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, conflict-resolution, trade, immigration, democratization.

Selected Publications

  • Not Condemned to Repetition: The United States and Nicaragua, Westview Press, 2002, 2nd edition.   
  • Toward a North American Community: Lessons from the Old World for the New, Institute for International Economics, 2001.   
  • Exiting the Whirlpool: U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Latin America and the Caribbean, Westview Press, 2001, 2nd edition.   
  • Integration with Mexico: Options for U.S. Policy, Twentieth Century Fund Press, 1993.   
  • Limits to Friendship: The United States and Mexico, Alfred A. Knopf, 1988. With Jorge Castaneda.   
  • Congress and the Politics of U.S. Foreign Economic Policy, University of California Press, 1980.   
  • "Democracy and Elections in North America: What Can We Learn From Our Neighbors?" Election Law Journal, 2004.   
  • A Century's Journey: How The Great Powers Shape the World, Basic Books, 1999.   
  • Migration and Development in the Caribbean Basin: The Unexplored Coneection, Westview Press, 1985.   
  • Democracy in the Caribbean: Political, Economic, and Social Perspectives. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993. With Jorge I. Dominguez and R. Delisle Worrell.

Professional Presentations

  • February 1, 2008 – Address at the National Press Club on "Youth Vote and Barriers to Electoral Participation", hosted by the Roosevelt Institution
  • February 12, 2008 – "The Elders and Darfur," U.S. Institute for Peace, Wash, D.C.
  • March 26, 2008 - Chaired and spoke at International Studies Association on "Constructing a Regional Community in North America", San Francisco.
  • May 9, 2008 – Keynote Presentation on "Comparing Democracy and Election Administration in North America," Harvard University Conference
  • Sept. 26-28, 2008 – "Latin America," Ditchley Park, Oxford, England
  • April 25, 2008 – "The State of War and Peace in the Middle East," Hubert Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota
  • April 25, 2008, "The North American Idea," The first Donald B. Regan Distinguished Lecture, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota
  • June 5, 2008 - "U.S. Policy toward Cuba," Conference on Canadian Studies and Latin America, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
  • September 29, 2008 – Invited Lecture, "U.S. Policy and Latin America – Bush and Beyond," Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London, United Kingdom
  • November 13, 2008 – Invited Testimony before the Council of the District of Columbia Special Committee on Elections on "Election Reform in Washington, D.C."

Congressional Testimony

  • "Impediments to a Free and Fair Electoral Process: The Urgency for Reform," U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, October 13, 2006.
  • "The U.S., Mexico, and North America," House International Relations Committee, April 26, 2006.
  • "A North American Community Approach to Security," Senate Foreign Relations Committee, June 9, 2005.
  • "U.S. Policy toward the Americas: A Critique and an Alternative," House International Relations Committee, October 21, 2003.
  • "North American's Future," Foreign Affairs Committee, House of Commons, Canada, February 7, 2002.
  • "U.S. Interests in the Panama Canal Transition," Senate Foreign Relations Committee, June 16, 1998.
  • "The Status of Haiti's Democratic Transition," House International Relations Committee," October 12, 1995.
  • "Nomination as Ambassador to Panama," Senate Foreign Relations Committee, July 22, 1994.
  • "Transition to Democracy in the Caribbean: Haiti, Guyana, and Suriname," House Foreign Affairs Committee, June 26, 1991.
  • "A New Approach toward Latin America and the Caribbean," House Foreign Affairs Committee, March 1, 1989.

Work In Progress

  • The North American Idea – book manuscript
  • An Election is a War by Other Means – book manuscript
  • Articles on Middle East conflict

Honors, Awards, and Fellowships

  • Toppan Prize for best dissertation in political science at Harvard University, 1977
  • Shriver Humanitarian Service Award for Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
  • George W. Kidd Award for Distinguished Alumnus, Lafayette College
  • Administration Fellowship, John F. Kennedy School of Government
  • Straus Visiting Professor, Harvard University
  • Fulbright Professor at El Colegio de Mexico
  • Four books received awards by Choice magazine as well as the Hubert Herring Award for best book in Latin American Studies
  • Phi Beta Kappa
  • Phi Alpha Theta

Grants and Sponsored Research

  • Carnegie Corporation. Election Reform. CDEM.  $200,000
  • Knight Foundation. Election Reform. CDEM. $250,000
  • Smith-Richardson Foundation. Election Reform. CDEM. $150,000
  • Department of State. Gulf Middle East electoral Initiative. $800,000
  • Department of State, Middle East Election Exchange Program. $992,782
  • Election Assistance Commission.  Training Poll-Workers. CDEM. Two grants. $48,000
  • Department of Education. FIPSE; and North American Development Bank. CNAS –total: $243,000
  • Elders, OIA and for Dr. Pastor, Conflict Resolution, $250,000.

Media Appearances

  • Los Angeles Times
  • Newsweek
  • New York Times
  • Christian Science Monitor
  • Washington Post
  • Time
  • Atlanta Journal Constitution
  • CNN
  • NPR
  • BBC

Executive Experience

  • Vice President of International Affairs, American University, 2002-07
  • Interim Co-Director, The Elders, 2007-08
  • Director, Latin American and Caribbean Program, China Project, and Democracy Program, The Carter Center, 1985-1998
  • Co-Editor, Norteamerica, an inter-disciplinary journal
  • Vice Chair, N.Y. Council on Foreign Relations Task Force on the Future of North America, 2004-05
  • Board of Trustees, American University of Nigeria, Yola, Nigeria, 2004-2008
  • Board of Advisors, Americas Division of Human Rights Watch, 2003-present
  • Board of Directors, NAFSA (Association of International Educators), 2002-present
  • Chairman, Board of Directors, North American Forum on Integration (NAFI), Montreal, Canada, 1999-2004; Board of Directors, 1999-present
  • Board of Directors, Common Cause and CC Education Fund, 2000-2005

AU Expert

Area of Expertise: U.S. foreign policy; North American free trade and integration (Canada, Mexico, and the United States); worldwide democratization and U.S. electoral reform; China and Asia; conflict resolution in the Middle East; Cuba and Latin America; U.S. trade policy; immigration policy

Additional Information: Robert A. Pastor
has written a new book called The North American Idea, which offers a vision and blueprint for a new trilateral relationship between the United States, Mexico, and Canada. (Oxford University Press, 2011).

He has written or edited 16 other books—four of which have won national prizes—and approximately 250 articles about international relations, including A Century’s Journey: How the Great Powers Shape the World (Basic Books, 1999) and Exiting the Whirlpool: U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Latin America and the Caribbean (Westview, 2001). He was founding director of the Carter Center’s Latin American and Caribbean Program and the Democracy and China Elections projects. Pastor pioneered “election mediation” to assist transitions to democracy around the world.

A senior advisor to the mission led by Jimmy Carter, Colin Powell, and Sam Nunn to restore constitutional government to Haiti (1994), Pastor was national security advisor for Latin American and Caribbean affairs (1977 to 1981) and was nominated ambassador to Panama (1993). He has been a Peace Corps volunteer in Malaysia, a Fulbright professor in Mexico, and the Strauss Visiting Professor at Harvard University. Pastor created the Hubert Humphrey Fellows Program (1978) while serving in the White House in the Carter Administration. He was vice chair of the Council on Foreign Relations Task Force on the Future of North America, which issued the report Constructing a North American Community. He was a member and executive director of the Commission on Federal Election Reform, chaired by Jimmy Carter and former secretary of state James A. Baker III, which issued 87 recommendations on ways to improve the U.S. election system. He served as interim codirector of the Elders, a group of 12 world leaders led by Desmond Tutu, and is currently senior advisor to the Carter Center for conflict resolution in the Middle East.

From 2002 to 2007, Pastor was vice president of international affairs at American University, expanding the study abroad program from 13 to 113 sites. He created a program to bring students from around the world to AU and helped establish the American University of Nigeria.

He has been interviewed on CBS's 60 Minutes, ABC World News Tonight, PBS NewsHour, and CNN, and been quoted by the Washington Post, New York Times, and numerous other media outlets.

Media Relations
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