. Robert A. Pastor
rpastor@american.edu
(202) 885-2728
Vice President of International Affairs
Director, Center for Democracy and Election Management
Director, Center for North American Studies
Professor of International Relations
Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Robert A. Pastor became Vice President of International Affairs and Professor of International Relations at American University on September 1, 2002. In his new position, he directs AU's expanding international programs and activities, reflecting the University's commitment to become the nation's premier global university. Dr. Pastor has established two new institutions that draw together teaching, research, and service on key global themes for the 21st century - democracy and integration. The new Center for Democracy and Election Management trains students, political leaders, journalists, and election managers from the US and abroad. The Center for North American Studies educates and conducts research about Canada, Mexico, and the United States with the aim of understanding and building a North American Community.
Dr. Pastor has combined a career of scholarship, teaching, and public policy in government and in non-governmental organizations. He was National Security Advisor for Latin America (1977-81) and has been a consultant to the Departments of State and Defense. From 1985 until arriving at AU, Dr. Pastor was Goodrich C. White Professor of Political Science at Emory University, and he was a Fellow and Founding Director of the Carter Center's Latin American and Caribbean Program and the Democracy and China Election Projects. At The Carter Center, he founded and served as the Executive Secretary of the Council of Freely-Elected Heads of Government, a group of 32 leaders of the Americas, chaired by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. This Council mediated elections in more than thirty countries around the world.
He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University and an M.P.A. from the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is the author or editor of sixteen books, including most recently, Toward a North American Community: Lessons from the Old World for the New (2001); Exiting the Whirlpool: U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Latin America and the Caribbean (2001); and A Century's Journey: How the Great Powers Shape the World (1999). Dr. Pastor was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malaysia, a Fulbright Professor in Mexico, and a Visiting Professor at Harvard University.
Dr. Pastor has been a foreign policy advisor to each of the Democratic Presidential Candidates since 1976 and was Chair of the Working Group on North America for the Kerry-Edwards campaign. President Bill Clinton nominated him to be Ambassador to Panama, and he served as the Senior Advisor to the Carter-Nunn-Powell Mission to restore constitutional government in Haiti in 1994. He is the Vice Chair of the Council on Foreign Relations Task Force on North America, and he is also Executive Director of the Commission on Federal Election Reform.