Chatham House: Russia's Quest for Global Influence - Africa

Straun MacDonald

Struan Macdonald has a career spanning thirty years in UK MOD centred on international security. After previous work on both UK and US defence reviews, he led the Russia policy team from 2016-20, and is now Deputy Head for Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Joachim Isacsson

Vladimir Rouvinski is Director, Laboratory of Politics and International Relations (PoInt), and Associate Professor, Department of Political Studies, at Icesi University in Cali, Colombia. He graduated from Irkutsk State University, in Russia, majoring in history and international relations, and he holds MA and PhD in International Development and Cooperation from Hiroshima University in Japan. Before joining Icesi University in 2007, Vladimir worked with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), education and research institutions in Russia, Japan, Germany, USA, and Colombia. Vladimir’s area of expertise is Russian and Asian countries relations with Latin America. He is Co-Chair of Asia and the Americas. Section at Latin Americas Studies Association (LASA).

Nataliya Bugayova

Dr Elena Lazarou is an associate fellow in the US and the Americas Programme at Chatham House, providing insights on themes relates to Brazilian politics and foreign policy and EU relations with Latin America. Her research focuses on EU relations with Brazil and Latin America, regionalism, and foreign policy analysis. She is assistant professor of international relations at the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) in Brazil. Between 2012 and 2015 she was head of FGV’s Centre of International Relations. She is currently on extended leave, working as acting head of external policies at the European Parliament’s Research Service. Dr Lazarou is a frequent panelist at conferences and events on international affairs and Latin America. She received her MPhil and PhD from the University of Cambridge and has held post-doctoral research positions at the University of Cambridge and the LSE.

Dzvinka Kachur

Dr. Evan Ellis is a research professor of Latin American Studies at the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute, with a focus on the region’s relationships with China and other non-Western Hemisphere actors, as well as transnational organized crime and populism in the region. Dr. Ellis has published over 280 works, including the 2009 book China in Latin America: The Whats and Wherefores, the 2013 book The Strategic Dimension of Chinese Engagement with Latin America, the 2014 book, China on the Ground in Latin America, and the 2018 book, Transnational Organized Crime in Latin America and the Caribbean. Dr. Ellis previously served as on the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff (S/P) with responsibility for Latin America and the Caribbean (WHA), as well as International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) issues.  In his academic capacity, Dr. Ellis presented his work in a broad range of business and government forums in 27 countries four continents.  He has given testimony on Latin America security issues to the US Congress on various occasions, has discussed his work regarding China and other external actors in Latin America on a broad range of radio and television programs, and is cited regularly in the print media in both the US and Latin America for his work in this area. Dr. Ellis has also been awarded the Order of Military Merit José María Córdova by the Colombian government for his scholarship on security issues in the region.

Jideofor Adibe

Juan Pablo Cardenal is an associated researcher of the Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America’s Advisory Council (CADAL), as well as a journalist and writer. Since 2009, he has conducted field research in over 40 countries on the topic of China’s global reach, to understand Beijing’s overseas investments, loans, infrastructure projects, and global influence. He has co-authored three books on this topic that have been published in twelve languages:La Imparable Conquista China (China’s Unstoppable Conquest, 2015),El Imperio Invisible: El Éxito Empresarial Chino y Sus Vínculos Con la Criminalidad en España y Europa (Invisible Empire: The Success of Chinese Businesses and Their Ties to Crime in Spain and Europe, 2013) and La Silenciosa Conquista China (China’s Silent Army, 2011). His latest book is La Telaraña: la trama exterior del procés (2020), about the political crisis in Catalonia.He is also the author of several chapters and papers about China’s global influence. His latest work is a research on the CCP’s party diplomacy in Latina America, published by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (2021). He also authored the chapters about Chinese and Russian sharp power activities in Argentina and Peru, which is part of the report Sharp Power: Rising Authoritarian Influence (National Endowment for Democracy, 2017). He was a China-based correspondent for a decade (2003–2013) for Spanish dailies El Mundo and El Economista, touching mainly on economic, business and social stories. He is now a contributor to several international media outlets, as well as a speaker and panelist at numerous international institutions and forums. He has been interviewed by a number of international media outlets, TV and radios about China’s overseas activities. He is currently working on a year-long project to monitor and analyse Russian and Chinese state media disinformation and propaganda in Chile, Argentina and Peru. 

Dr Christopher Sabatini is senior fellow for Latin America at Chatham House, and was formerly a lecturer in discipline in the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University. Chris is also on the advisory boards of Harvard University’s LASPAU, the Advisory Committee for Human Rights Watch's Americas Division and of the Inter-American Foundation. He is also an HFX Fellow at the Halifax International Security Forum. He is a frequent contributor to policy journals and newspapers and appears in the media and on panels on issues related to Latin America and foreign policy. Chris has testified multiple times before the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2015, Chris founded and directed a new research non-profit, Global Americas and edited its news and opinion website http://www.theglobalamericas.org. From 2005 to 2014 Chris was senior director of policy at the Americas Society and Council of the Americas (AS/COA) and the founder and editor-in-chief of the hemispheric policy magazine Americas Quarterly (AQ). At the AS/COA, Dr. Sabatini chaired the organization’s rule of law and Cuba working groups. Prior to that, he was director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the National Endowment for Democracy, and a diplomacy fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, working at the US Agency for International Development’s Center for Democracy and Governance. He provides regular interviews for major media outlets, and has a PhD in Government from the University of Virginia.