Virtual ThinkTalk: ``The U.S. and Bahrain Electoral Systems: How Do They Work?``
Derasat and the Embassy of United States of America, presented a Virtual ThinkTalk on “The U.S. and Bahrain Electoral Systems: How Do They Work?”. This webinar brought together top political speakers from Bahrain and the U.S. to discuss the electoral systems in both countries.
The webinar took place on Thursday, 15 October, 2020 at 4:00 pm (Bah time), via Zoom.
H.E. Nancy Dinah Elly Khedouri
Nancy is a Bahraini of the Jewish faith and is a former Graduate of The Sacred Heart School, Kingdom of Bahrain. Her Academic Honours includes FIRST Rank at The Sacred Heart School in English Literature Research and many other School Projects, FIRST Rank in Manama ToastMasters Competition, securing the Trophy for her School. She was awarded Certificate of Achievement of National Excellence at The Mount School, London, U.K. and awarded many Certificates of Good Conduct, Certificates of Honour and Excellence in the activities throughout academic years in The Kingdom of Bahrain and The United Kingdom.
Nancy holds a Bachelor of Law Degree (L.L.B. Hons.) from London, U.K. and is also an author of a book that outlines the history of the Jewish community of Bahrain, titled, “From Our Beginning To Present Day.”
Nancy was appointed by His Majesty in Year 2010 to serve as a Member of The Shura (Consultative) Council and was re-appointed during Year 2014 and Year 2018, where she continues to serve in The Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security Committee and was also elected unopposed on more than one occasion to serve as its Deputy Chairperson. Currently, she continues to serve in two Committees, the other being The Youth Affairs Committee.
Nancy was also appointed as a Member of The Coordination Committee of The Supreme Council for Women for Downstreaming Women’s Needs into the Economic Development of Society. She was also appointed as a Member of The Supreme Coordination Council for Inter-Civilization Dialogue which coordinated for The Inter- Civilization Conference, “All Civilizations in Service of Humanity,” which was under the Patronage of His Majesty King Hamad Bin Essa Al Khalifa.
Nancy served on a Voluntary basis as Head of Administration at The Bahrain-Japan Business and Friendship Society (BJBFS) since it was founded and assisted in supervising a special commemorative book published by the society, entitled, “Bahrain & Japan: Decades of Friendship,” which commemorated at the time, forty years of Diplomatic Relations between the two countries.
Since many years Nancy enjoys Association Membership with The Bahrain-British Business Forum (BBBF) and with The Bahrain Historical & Archaeological Society
During her free time, she also takes great pride in spending time with Children suffering from the challenges of disability and actively supports the annual Children’s Summer Camp of “Bahrain For All.”
Nancy continues to actively contribute to the Society. She is regularly invited to participate as a Guest-Speaker on various Topics about the Kingdom of Bahrain at Key-Events hosted locally and abroad. She takes great pride in representing her precious Homeland and in enlightening others by sharing a well-rounded perspective as to the Peaceful Coexistence.
John C. Fortier
John C. Fortier, is the director of governmental studies. Prior to joining BPC in April 2011, he was a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he served as the principal contributor to the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project, the executive director of the Continuity of Government Commission, and the project manager of the Transition to Governing Project. He was a regular contributor to AEI’s Election Watch series. He also served as the director of the Center for the Study of American Democracy at Kenyon College.
Fortier is the author of Absentee and Early Voting: Trends, Promises and Perils, the author and editor of After the People Vote: A Guide to the Electoral College, and the author and co-editor with Norman Ornstein of Second Term Blues: How George W. Bush Has Governed, and numerous academic articles in political science and law journals.
Fortier has been a regular columnist for The Hill and Politico. Fortier is a frequent commentator on elections and government institutions and has appeared on ABC’sNightline, CNN, Fox News, PBS’s News Hour, CBS News, NBC’s Today Show, C-SPAN, NPR, Bloomberg, and BBC. He has taught at Kenyon College, University of Pennsylvania, University of Delaware, Harvard University and Boston College.
Fortier has a Ph.D. in political science from Boston College and a B.A. from Georgetown University.
Mahmood Abdulghaffar
Moderator
Mahmood joined the Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies (Derasat) in September 2011. He currently works in the Strategic and International Studies Department. Mahmood’s research interests include international geopolitics, Arab Gulf-China relations, Middle East regional security and Arab Gulf-Sino relations. He completed the First Deputy Prime Minister Fellowship Program in 2017. Mahmood previously worked as an intern with the United Nations Development Program and Ernst & Young. He has a Master in Business Administration from the University of Sharjah, UAE, and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the American University in Washington DC.