BTI blog authors

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On the BTI blog, BTI experts and journalists provide insights into current democracy and governance issues in developing and transition countries.

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Jake Benford

Bertelsmann Stiftung
Senior Project Manager
Jake Benford is a member of Bertelsmann Stiftung's Europe Programme, where he currently focusses on economic cohesion in the EU as well as more broadly on relations with the UK.
  • globaleurope.eu/blogger/jake-benford/
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Jan Claudius Völkel

Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI)
Regional Coordinator
Jan Claudius Völkel is BTI regional coordinator for the Middle East & North Africa and and DAAD Seconded Professor at the University of Ottawa.
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Jan Hofmeyr

Jan Hofmeyr († June 2025) headed the Research and Policy Programme at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) in Cape Town.
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Jennifer M. Piscopo

Royal Holloway University of London
Professor of Gender and Politics
Jennifer M. Piscopo is Professor of Gender and Politics at Royal Holloway University of London. She is also Associate Professor of Politics and Director of the Center for Research and Scholarship at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. Her research focuses on women’s political representation and gender and elections in Latin America, the United States, and the globe. She has published in over 30 peer-reviewed journals, her public writing commenting on U.S. politic, Latin American politics, and gender and politics has appeared in media outlets across the globe.
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Jens Poggenpohl

Freelance Journalist
  • jenspoggenpohl.de
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Jess Smee

Journalist
Jess Smee is a Berlin-based journalist who writes for The Guardian newspaper among others. She is contributor and editor for the Bertelsmann Stiftung's SGI News and BTI Blog.

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Jil Kamerling

Heidelberg University
Researcher
Jil Kamerling is researcher at the Institute of Political Science at Heidelberg University with a primary interest in institutions in autocracies, diffusion and authoritarian learning. Together with Tanja Eschenauer-Engler and Prof. Aurel Croissant, Jil co-created the The Political Roles of the Military (PRM) dataset (http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/politikwissenschaften/personal/croissant/forschung_en.html).
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Jonathan Fisher

University of Birmingham
Reader
Jonathan Fisher is reader in African Politics at the University of Birmingham and visiting fellow at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) at Stellenbosch University. He studied at University College London and the University of Oxford and has worked in Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda. His research - which has been funded by the AHRC, British Academy, ESRC and Facebook, among others - focuses on the nature and characteristics of authoritarian states in Africa.
  • birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/gov/fisher-jonathan.aspx
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Jos Boonstra

FRIDE
Head of Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia Program
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Julia Renner-Mugono

University of Münster
Researcher
Dr. Julia Renner-Mugono is postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Münster. Her research interests include resource conflicts, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and global dynamics of resource distribution. She is BTI regional coordinator for Eastern and Southern Africa. She is associate fellow at the Peace Academy Rhineland-Palatinate and member of the Peace and Conflict Research Association (AfK).
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Julian Dierkes

Institute of Asian Research of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver
Associate Professor
Dr. Julian Dierkes is an associate professor at the Institute of Asian Research of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. His research focuses on the political development and mining policy in Mongolia. Dierkes is one of 246 country experts who worked on the latest edition of the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Transformation Index, BTI 2016. He blogs at http://blogs.ubc.ca.mongolia. 
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Juliane Matthey

Reporters Without Borders
Press Officer
Juliane Matthey is press officer at Reporters Without Borders.
  • reporter-ohne-grenzen.de
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