Hicham Ben Abdallah received his B.A. in Politics in 1985 from Princeton University, and his M.A. in Political Science from Stanford in 1997. His interest is in the politics of the transition from authoritarianism to democracy.

He has lectured in numerous universities and think tanks in North America and Europe. His work for the advancement of peace and conflict resolution has brought him to Kosovo as a special Assistant to Bernard Kouchner, and to Nigeria and Palestine as an election observer with the Carter Center. He has published in journals such Le Monde,  Le Monde Diplomatique,Pouvoirs, Le Debat, The Journal of Democracy, The New York Times, El Pais, and El Quds.

In 2010 he has founded the Moulay Hicham Foundation which conducts social science research on the MENA region. He is also an entrepreneur with interests in agriculture, real estate, and renewable energies. His company, Al Tayyar Energy, has a number of clean energy projects in Asia and Europe. 

Nozima Kamalova, a human rights defender and lawyer, is the director of the Public Defense Office of the Tashkent Board of Lawyers and the founding chair of the Legal Aid Society of Uzbekistan, a nongovernmental organization that works with international human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, to safeguard and promote the rule of law. Kamalova has been instrumental in the revision of several Uzbek laws related to torture and human rights, and her lobbying activities have influenced much policy and legislation adopted both internationally and in Uzbekistan. She has served as a chief consultant to agencies of the United Nations, and in since 2002, she submitted a number of alternative reports to the United Nation's Committees on human rights violations and concerning the use of torture in her country.

In 2005, Kamalova was awarded the Chevening Fellowship by the United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In 2003, she completed an advanced course on human rights in Poland at the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, and in 1999, she was an International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) Fellow. She holds a diploma with highest honors in law from Tashkent State University.

During her fellowship at CDDRL (2007-09), Kamalova continued her research on how Western antiterrorism policies limit civil liberties and freedoms in less-developed, transitional countries. She studied the impact of the war against terrorism on authoritarian countries, with Uzbekistan as an example, and will develop recommendations for legislation and practice.

Greg Domber received his A.B in History and Philosophy from Lafayette College in 1997 and recently completed his Ph.D. in History at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. His dissertation, "Supporting the Revolution: America, Democracy, and the End of the Cold War in Poland, 1981-1989,"utilized a multi-archival, international history research approach combined with numerous oral history interviews to take a sober accounting of American and Western influences on Poland's democratic transformation from the declaration of martial law in December 1981 through the creation of the Mazowiecki government in August 1989.

At CDDRL, Greg continued his research on international influences on Poland's transformation during the 1980s, focusing further work on the role played by non-governmental actors, particularly labor unions, émigré groups, humanitarian organizations, and American business interests.

Olena Nikolayenko is a recepient of the 2007-2009 post-doctoral fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Her research interests include comparative democratization, public opinion, social movements, youth, and corruption. In her dissertation, she analyzed political support among the first post-Soviet generation grown up without any direct experience with communism in Russia and Ukraine. She has a PhD from the University of Toronto, Canada.

At CDDRL, she examined why some youth movements are more successful than others in applying methods of nonviolent resistance to mobilize the population in non-democratic regimes. She has recently conducted fieldwork in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Serbia, and Ukraine.

Selected Publications

• 2008. "Contextual Effects on Historical Memory: Soviet Nostalgia among Post-Soviet Adolescents." Communist and Post-Communist Studies 41(2): 243-259
• 2008. "Life-Cycle, Generational and Period Effects on Protest Potential in Yeltsin's Russia." Canadian Journal of Political Science 41(2): 437-460
• 2007. "The Revolt of the Post-Soviet Generation: Youth Movements in Serbia, Georgia, and Ukraine." Comparative Politics 39(2): 169-188
•  2007. "Web Cartoons in a Closed Society: Animal Farm as an Allegory of Belarus." PS: Political Science and Politics 40(2): 307-310
• 2004. "Press Freedom during the 1994 and 1999 Presidential Elections in Ukraine: A Reverse Wave?" Europe-Asia Studies 56(5): 661-686