Thomas O Melia

Background

Over a twenty-five-year career, Thomas O. Melia has been a key actor in the development of policies to strengthen democratic governance around the world as an NGO leader, writer, university professor, and activist. He is recognized by the mainstream media as an expert in foreign policy matters and is credited with coining several resonant phrases to describe the state of democracy and democracy promotion. The Washington Post recently published an interview with Melia noting that he "promotes democracy in the most unlikely places."

He has held senior positions at Freedom House, the National Democratic Institute, and the Free Trade Union Institute of the AFL-CIO (now the Solidarity Center) and has taught at Master's programs at Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

As Assistant Administrator and Deputy Assistant Secretary, Melia has testified multiple times before Congress. Melia regularly meets with civil society groups and conducts interviews with journalists, including an interview with Hungary’s Magyar Nemzet Newspaper in May 2012.

His most recent publications include a chapter entitled "Supporting Democracy Abroad: Transatlantic Cooperation at the Crossroads" appearing in the book Shoulder to Shoulder: Forging a Strategic US EU Partnership, and a review of the Handbook of National Legislatures: A Global Survey, by M. Steven Fish and Matthew Kroenig entitled "What Makes Legislatures Strong" appearing in the Journal of Democracy in April 2010.

Professional career

As Deputy Executive Director of Freedom House, Thomas O. Melia oversaw a wide range of advocacy efforts, analysis, and programs to assist human rights defenders and civic activists in non-democratic countries. During his tenure at Freedom House, from 2005 - 2010, he testified before the United States Congress, advised the Swedish government, and testified before two committees in the National Assembly of Hungary (2008).

He has spoken at major conferences in Europe, Africa, and the US, published several articles, co-edited a major report on rights and freedoms in the U.S. entitled Today’s American: How Free and managed a variety of assistance programs in partnership with reform advocates in twenty-five countries. He was also principal author of the Freedom House guide to assisting human rights defenders. He has traveled extensively to countries throughout Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

Prior to joining Freedom House, Melia worked in the field of academic and professional research for five years, as a Senior Associate at Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, Inc. from 2001–2002, Research Associate and Director of Research from 2002–2005 at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, and Adjunct Professor in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, where he taught graduate courses about democracy promotion (1999 - 2000). He taught multiple graduate-level courses in Georgetown’s Department of Democracy and Governance Studies and in the International Development program at Johns Hopkins University’s School for Advanced International Studies.

He supervised research projects conducted by diplomats and military officers from the US and abroad. At Georgetown, he was the principal investigator for reports on Congressional attitudes toward the State Department and terrorism’s impact on diplomacy; he directed the first public opinion research conducted in post-Taliban Afghanistan (2002) and in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq (2003).

Earlier, Melia served as NDI’s Vice President for Programs from 1998 to 2001, designing and overseeing programs in over forty countries in Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, the Near East, and South Asia. During his twelve-year tenure at NDI he traveled extensively, building partnerships with democratic activists and guiding multinational training and election monitoring teams. From 1988–1993, he directed the Central and Eastern Europe Programs], bringing the Institute to the region before the fall of the Berlin Wall and through a period of significant democratic transition. From 1993–1996, he directed NDI’s Middle East Programs as well as the Institute’s Democratic Governance program.

Melia began his career as a research assistant to U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-New York) in 1980 and eventually became Senior Legislative Assistant for foreign and defense policy. He left in 1986 to become Associate Director of the Free Trade Union Institute of the AFL-CIO (now the Solidarity Center). As Associate Director, he represented the AFL-CIO regional institutes with the private and public sector and helped increase congressional support for the Institute’s advocacy of workers’ rights.

Foreign Policy Expertise

Melia has coined several resonant phrases about democracy support efforts and the parlous state of human rights in the world. In an article published Monday, 5 July 2010, Washington Post Editorial Page Editor Fred Hyatt quoted Melia as characterizing the diminishing freedom in many countries worldwide as a “global political recession.” According to author Eric Bjornlund in his 2004 book about election monitoring, Melia coined the phrase “democracy bureaucracy” in the mid-1990s to describe the proliferating community of agencies and NGOs inside and outside government involved in democracy promotion efforts. Melia has subsequently published “The Democracy Bureaucracy” in The American Interest in 2006.

In July 2009, following the arrest of then-genocide suspect Radovan Karadžić, in an interview on CNN Melia attributed this to the democratic transition in Serbia; stating, "The arrest of Karadzic shows that elections do matter. It’s no coincidence." News outlets such as The New York Times and The Washington Post also turn to Melia to address issues, including President Barack Obama’s policy toward Russia and the global downturn in political freedom.

Academic career

Melia earned a BA from Johns Hopkins University in International Relations and an M.A. with a concentration in Africa Studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in 1979. While in graduate school, Melia worked as an intern at the National Security Council at The White House, on Africa issues, and during the summer of 1978 at the U.S. embassy in Nouakchott, Mauritania.

Awards and Board Affiliations