Max O. Stephenson, Jr. serves as a Professor of Public and International Affairs and the Director of the Institute for Policy and Governance at Virginia Tech (VTIPG). His research and teaching interests include human rights and refugees; civil society and democratic theory, especially as pertaining to conceptions of political agency and social change processes; NGOs and international development; and peacebuilding. He is the author or editor of 11 books and more than 80 refereed articles and book chapters. He has taught graduate and undergraduate courses related to community change and development both domestically and internationally for nearly three decades. Stephenson has also led the VTIPG Community Change Collaborative (CCC), an interdisciplinary graduate student group with academic and professional interests in community change dynamics and praxis in the United States and abroad, for more than a decade. His commentaries concerning American and international politics and democracy can be accessed at the following links: (1) and (2).

Yannis A. Stivachtis is Professor of Political Science and holder of the Jean Monnet Chair at Virginia Tech. He also serves as Director of the Center for European Union, Transatlantic & Trans-European Space Studies (CEUTTSS) – A Jean Monnet Center of Excellence; Director of the International Studies Program; and University Coordinator of the Diplomacy Lab. His research and teaching interests include International Relations theory (English School), security/strategic studies, and European Studies. He is currently the editor of the Critical European Studies book series (Routledge) and co-editor of the Athens Journal of Mediterranean Studies (AJMS). His most recent books include: The Routledge Handbook of Critical European Studies (Routledge, 2021; co-editor); Regional Security in the Middle East: Sectors, Variables and Issues (E-International Relations Publishing, 2019; co-editor); Conflict and Diplomacy in the Middle East: External Actors and Regional Rivalries (E-International Relations Publishing, 2018; editor); The State/Society Relationship in Security Analysis (U.S. Army War College Press, 2015). Revisiting the Idea of the European Union as Empire (Routledge, 2015; co- editor); Europe after Enlargement (Routledge, 2014; co-editor); The European Union and Peace-building (special issue, Review of European Studies, 5(3), 2013; co-editor); EUrope and the World (special issue, Review of European Studies, 4(3), 2012; editor); Human and State (In)Security in a Globalized World, 2nd edition (Kendall Hunt, 2011); and The Economic Dimension of Turkey’s Accession to the European Union (Brussels University Press, 2011; co-editor). He has also published several book chapters and articles in peer- reviewed journals.