Leila Alieva

Dr. Leila Alieva "is founding director of the Center for National and International Studies, a Baku-based think tank that provides independent research and policy analysis on a wide range of national and international issues. One of Azerbaijan’s most renowned social scientists, she has served as a research fellow at a number of universities and research institutions, including Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University–SAIS, the University of California–Berkeley, and the Woodrow Wilson Center. She has worked as a consultant to the United Nations, OSCE, and the U.S. government, and was a national observer of Azerbaijan’s presidential and parliamentary elections, in 2003 and 2005, respectively. Her articles have appeared in numerous books and journals, including the Journal of Democracy and the NATO Defense College’s Occasional Paper Series. During her fellowship, Dr. Alieva worked on a monograph concerning oil development, democracy, and state-building in Azerbaijan."

• 2007–2008, NED Past Fellows