Co-Lead and Chief Organizer
Dr. Maria J. Stephan is the Co-lead & Chief Organizer at the Horizons Project, an initiative focused on strengthening connections and collective action among US pro-democracy movements and sectors. Maria is an award-winning author and organizer whose work has focused on the role of nonviolent movements advancing human rights, democracy, and peace. She co-wrote (with Erica Chenoweth) Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict, which received the American Political Science Association’s award for the best book published in political science in 2012, and the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order.
Her other books include: The Role of External Support in Nonviolent Campaigns: Poisoned Chalice or Holy Grail? Bolstering Democracy: Lessons Learned and the Path Forward; Is Authoritarianism Staging a Comeback?; and Civilian Jihad: Nonviolent Struggle, Democratization and Governance in the Middle East. Stephan’s work has been featured in the New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Foreign Affairs, Just Security, Foreign Policy, and Waging Nonviolence, among other outlets.
Before joining the Horizons Project, Stephan founded and directed the Program on Nonviolent Action at the U.S. Institute of Peace, overseeing applied research, a global training program, and work with policymakers to support activists, peacebuilders, and social movements in their struggles to advance more just, peaceful, and democratic societies around the world.
Earlier, Stephan was lead foreign affairs officer in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, receiving two Meritorious Service Awards for her work in Afghanistan and with Syrian activists in Turkey. She later co-directed the Future of Authoritarianism initiative at the Atlantic Council, which informed activists and practitioners about global democracy trends and strategies for confronting authoritarianism. Stephan directed policy and educational initiatives at the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, supporting dissidents and movements globally. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses on civil resistance and human rights at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and American University’s School of International Service.
Stephan received her BA in political science from Boston College and her MA and PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She received a Harry S. Truman national scholarship for public service and was a Fulbright scholar to Germany. Stephan is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations, an advisor to the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, a trainer with the Freedom Trainers, and an active member of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ). Maria is a proud Vermonter who resides in New York City.
Visit Maria’s personal website for more information and resources. https://www.mariajstephan.us/
Posts by Maria
