Regional and Global Dimensions to Israeli Foreign Policy

Date and time: Monday, June 1, 2020, 9:30 to 11 pm Israel Daylight Time (UTC+3)

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University of Washington Jewish Studies graduate fellows Bret Windhauser, Francis Abugbilla and Eryk Waligora offer perspectives on Israeli foreign policy.

Presentation #1 — Bret Windhauser, M.A. student, Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations, “Over and Under the Border: Goods Smuggling in Israel/the Palestinian Territories”

Presentation #2 — Francis Abugbilla, Ph.D. candidate, International Studies, “Diplomacy at the Crossroads of Recognition and Development: Israel-Ghana Relations Explained”

Presentation #3 — Eryk Waligora, M.A. student, International Studies, “Unrecognized: How Israel and Taiwan are Forging New Soft Power Relations”

About the speakers:

• Bret Windhauser is currently a second-year master’s student studying Arabic and modern Turkish in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization. He double-majored in French and international and global studies at Sewanee: The University of the South before coming to Seattle. Previously, he researched refugee movement and smuggling networks between Europe and the Middle East. This work was primarily based on time he spent in the jungle camp in Calais, France, where networks smuggled goods and people between France and the UK. His M.A. thesis focuses on smuggling networks that operate between Israel and the Palestinian Territories and the issues they create for state-building.
• Francis Mbawini Abugbilla is a Ph.D. candidate in international studies and the International Policy Institute fellow at the University of Washington’s Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies. He is also an associate researcher at Laboratoire de Sociologie Economique et d’Anthropologie des Appartenances Symboliques (LAASSE) at the Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Côte d’Ivoire. He researches conflict resolution and peacebuilding mechanisms in post-conflict societies. His dissertation focuses on how post-conflict peacebuilding mechanisms affect the prospects of reconciliation in Africa. His secondary research interests include human rights, governance, and youth empowerment. This summer, Francis is conducting fieldwork in Côte d’Ivoire, where he will interview the leadership of the Jewish community in Côte d’Ivoire about their role in post-conflict peacebuilding.
• Eryk Waligora is a graduate student in the University of Washington’s Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, where he is pursuing an MA in international studies and learning Mandarin Chinese. Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Eryk grew up in sunny southern California and attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He has a strong professional background, having interned for LA Mayor Eric Garcetti’s small business council, worked for several international tech startups in market research, become a contract associate producer at NBCUniversal, and supported East Asia new business development for an international export company. His current goals are to gain a deeper understanding of China’s political economy and to pivot into a career in global business strategy and consulting. Through the graduate fellowship, he explores connections in the national histories of Israel and Taiwan.