Dr. Leon Hartwell is a Visiting Fellow at the European Leadership Network (ELN) and the Secretariat of the Balkans Parliamentary Project. Additionally, he is a Senior Associate at LSE IDEAS, London School of Economics, and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) in Washington D.C. His areas of research expertise encompass Central and Eastern Europe, with a particular focus on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and matters pertaining to the Balkans. His scholarly interests extend to conflict resolution, genocide studies, transitional justice, diplomacy, and democracy.
Previously, Hartwell was CEPA’s Acting Director of the Transatlantic Leadership Program and oversaw nearly 30 fellows engaged in diverse topics stretching from cyber security to energy security. He also served as Senior Policy Advisor for Political and Development Cooperation at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Zimbabwe from 2012 to 2013. In this capacity, he engaged with governmental and civil society stakeholders, conducted political reporting, led peace-building initiatives, and supported human rights defenders.
In 2019, Hartwell completed a joint doctoral degree summa cum laude at Leipzig University (Germany) and Stellenbosch University (South Africa). His thesis analysed the use of mediation in the resolution of armed conflicts. Hartwell has published extensively in professional scholarly outlets and mainstream media, ranging from the Negotiation Journal (Harvard-MIT-Tufts) and Oxford University Press to Forbes and War on The Rocks. He speaks Afrikaans, English, Dutch, and Latvian, which he studied at the U.S. Foreign Service Institute.
