February 15, 2017

Ted Piccone is a senior fellow in the Project on International Order and Strategy and Latin America Initiative in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings. His research is focused on global democracy and human rights policies; U.S.-Latin American relations, including Cuba; emerging powers; and multilateral affairs. Previously, he served as the acting vice president and director from 2013 to 2014 and deputy director from 2008 to 2013 of the Foreign Policy program. Piccone is the author of “Five Rising Democracies and the Fate of the International Liberal Order” (Brookings Institution Press, 2016).

Piccone served eight years as a senior foreign policy advisor in the Clinton administration, including on the National Security Council staff, at the State Department’s Office of Policy Planning and the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon. From 2001 to 2008, Piccone was the executive director and co-founder of the Democracy Coalition Project, a research and advocacy organization working to promote international cooperation for democracy and human rights globally. He was also the Washington office director for the Club of Madrid, an association of over 100 former heads of state and government engaged in efforts to strengthen democracy around the world, and continues as an advisor. Piccone served as counsel for the United Nations Truth Commission in El Salvador from 1992 to 1993, and as press secretary to U.S. Representative Bob Edgar from 1985 to 1987.

Piccone has authored or edited multiple volumes and articles on foreign policy, Latin America and human rights. His book, “Catalysts for Change: How the UN’s Independent Experts Promote Human Rights” (Brookings Institution Press, 2012), analyzes the effectiveness of this system at the national level and recommends ways to strengthen it. His research currently focuses on the evolving role of five rising democracies in the global democracy and human rights order. He is an adjunct professor at the American University Washington College of Law.

Piccone received a law degree from Columbia University, where he was editor-in-chief of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review and The Jailhouse Lawyer’s Manual, and a bachelor’s in history magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania.