Joel D. Hirst

International Affairs Fellow in Residence, 2010-2011, International Affairs Fellow in Residence, 2010-2011

Joel Hirst was a 2010-2011 international affairs fellow (IAF) in residence at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in Washington, D.C. He researched the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, a Latin American integration mechanism sponsored by Venezuela, with eight member countries, and its impact on U.S. policy toward the region.

Mr. Hirst has worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of Transition Initiatives (USAID/OTI) as country representative in Uganda from 2008 to 2010, and before from 2004 to 2008 as the acting country representative and deputy country representative in Venezuela. Before serving with USAID, he was a humanitarian relief worker for six years serving with World Vision and Food for the Hungry in Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, Venezuela, Chad, Honduras, Nicaragua, Kosovo and Costa Rica.

Mr. Hirst has an MA in sustainable international development from Brandeis University's Heller School for Social Policy and Management.

Top Stories on CFR

Russia

Liana Fix, a fellow for Europe at CFR, and Thomas Graham, a distinguished fellow at CFR, sit down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the future of U.S. policy toward Russia and the risks posed by heightened tensions between two nuclear powers. This episode is the first in a special TPI series on the U.S. 2024 presidential election and is supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Terrorism and Counterterrorism

Violence around U.S. elections in 2024 could not only destabilize American democracy but also embolden autocrats across the world. Jacob Ware recommends that political leaders take steps to shore up civic trust and remove the opportunity for violence ahead of the 2024 election season.

China

Those seeking to profit from fentanyl and governments seeking to control its supply are locked in a never-ending competition, with each new countermeasure spurring further innovation to circumvent it.