The Executive Abroad: Presidential Power and the U.S. Role in the World

Sebastian Schmidt is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science whose research interests include the historical origins and sociological foundations of security strategies, questions of international order, the modalities of American influence in the world, international monetary relations, and sovereignty. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in American Political Science Review, International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, Security Studies, West European Politics, Journal of Global Security Studies, and International Studies Review. His current and future work is focused on the elaboration of pragmatist and allied theoretical perspectives on international politics, with a particular emphasis on monetary relations and postwar American security practices. His first book is Armed Guests: Territorial Sovereignty and Foreign Military Basing (Oxford University Press, 2020). 

Ms. Wells is an accomplished international lawyer with over 25 years of work in Congress, the U.S. federal government, non-profits and law firms in Washington.

Most recently, she served as General Counsel of the Peace Corps under an appointment by the Biden Administration. Prior to that, she worked as an attorney at USAID - the U.S. Agency for International Development,  the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the House Judiciary Committee. She also worked on global women’s policy at the international humanitarian organization CARE and was a senior advisor at the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. 

Ms. Wells began her legal career as a clerk for the Constitutional Court of South Africa. She is a graduate of Brown University, American University and Columbia Law School.

Denise Dresser is a Mexican political analyst, columnist, and professor of political science at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), where she has taught since 1991. She specializes in comparative politics, political economy, and Mexican politics.

She has authored numerous publications on Mexican politics and U.S.-Mexico relations, contributing to works like Constructing Democratic Governance in Latin America. Her articles have appeared in Journal of Democracy, Current History, and Foreign Policy. She writes for Reforma and Proceso and has hosted political talk shows on Mexican television. Dresser is a frequent media commentator on Mexican politics in North America.

Beyond journalism and academia, she has consulted for the UN Development Program, the Open Society Institute, and financial institutions. She has served on advisory boards for Human Rights Watch, UNESCO, and the National Endowment for Democracy. She was also part of Mexico City's Human Rights Commission for eight years.

Dresser has been recognized as one of Latin America’s most influential women, listed among Mexico’s 50 most powerful women by Forbes, and honored with the French Legion of Honor for her work in democracy, justice, gender equality, and human rights.

Mary Bruce is the Assistant Director of Public Programs at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, a multi-disciplinary academic and public forum dedicated to strengthening global democracy by improving and expanding civic engagement and inclusive dialogue, and by supporting inquiry that leads to real-world change.  As assistant director of the SNF Agora Institute, Mary co-creates opportunities for meaningful dialogue and debate that inspire more active participation in democratic life. Throughout her career, she has worked to expand civic participation, including efforts of George HW Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden. A former adjunct professor at UVA's Batten School of Leadership, Mary holds a BA in Poverty Studies from UVA and an MPA from Princeton University. She served in both the Peace Corps (Morocco) and AmeriCorps (Washington, DC). Mary’s work reflects her belief that democracy works better for everyone by combining thoughtful scholarship with practical action.