ABOUT
The 21st Century Project
The 21st Century Project began with a very simple question: "Why are the voices of some Americans more important than others when it comes to U.S. foreign policy?"
The answer to this question is so complex that we saw the clear need to start The 21st Century Project and develop solutions.
The United States is at a watershed moment in its history, a moment that is not unlike the era of the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Civil Rights movement. Our country is being torn apart with domestic unrest and deep political division in large part because the U.S. government lacks an intellectual and institutional foreign policy framework to incorporate the perspectives of all Americans.
The United States is pursuing a self-defeating foreign policy that represents the interests of the few, fails to guarantee the security and prosperity of the American people, alienates large swaths of the global public, and incites domestic division. Foreign policies that contradict U.S. values ultimately undermine U.S. security, thereby necessitating the use of military and police power to impose compliance.
Americans from all communities deserve better. The 21st Century Project aims to reshape U.S. foreign policy in both a bipartisan and nonpartisan manner. We will accomplish this in two ways: first, by connecting with, educating, and uniting American communities from the Greater Middle East, and second, by partnering with all Americans who share our objectives and who seek to have a more just and united country. We will support candidates who pursue and defend foreign policies that are democratic, competitive, and balanced, and who will commit to stopping genocidal campaigns.
The United States must return to its roots and examine its painful contradictions in order to rise to the occasion and meet the challenges of this new global century. We cannot afford to be a nation divided.
The 21st Century Project is a 501(c)(4) headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This was an intentional choice. Philadelphia is the city where the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the first American antislavery petition were signed and hence, is the natural starting point for a movement to reinvigorate our democracy.
Our Team
Christine Arakelian, Co-Executive Director
Ms. Arakelian is a Fellow at the Armenian Society of Fellows and consults globally on matters pertaining to national security, technology, cybersecurity, healthcare, law and finance. She graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994, where she was also named a University Scholar for her original research. She subsequently worked in Germany on global finance transactions for a Wall Street law firm and then returned to the United States to attend the University of Virginia School of Law, where she graduated in the top 10% of her class. During law school, she worked for the Central Intelligence Agency Office of General Counsel in addition to leading global law firms. Shortly after graduating from law school, Ms. Arakelian transitioned into a corporate strategy and mergers and acquisition (M&A) role, and worked in a C-suite capacity for 3 separate Fortune 500 companies leading global strategy and M&A. She has structured numerous strategic transactions and investments across the globe and has on the ground deal experience in over 25 countries. She developed unique expertise in comparative legal systems which was subsequently recognized by Georgetown Law through the award of a Global Health Law Fellowship in 2018. She was the recipient of a Fulbright Award to Saudi Arabia, advised the Republic of Armenia as an IGort Fellow and also was an Adjunct Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. She has one son, Alexander, who lives in Munich, Germany and is working towards his doctorate in biomedical engineering at the Technical University of Munich. Ms. Arakelian's father, Hagop, emigrated to the United States from Alexandria, Egypt and received graduate degrees from both Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania. Her paternal grandparents came to the United States as conditional refugees and were both Armenian genocide survivors.
Dr. Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, Co-Executive Director
Elisa von Joeden-Forgey is the Executive Director of the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, a U.S.-based nonprofit that seeks to fill the gaps in the current global genocide prevention mechanisms. She was formerly the Endowed Chair in Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College, where she created and directed the the Master’s Program in Genocide Prevention and Human Security. Before this, she was the Dr. Marsha Raticoff Grossman Associate Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Stockton University in New Jersey, where she also directed the master’s program in Holocaust and Genocide Studies and founded the world’s first academic, graduate-level Genocide Prevention Certificate Program. She is former President of Genocide Watch, former First Vice President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, and co-founder of the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention. She has published widely on genocide, racism, and human rights, and has spoken regularly at the United Nations, the Global Forum against the Crime of Genocide, and other venues about these issues. Her global work on genocide prevention has taken her to many countries in varying capacities, including Senegal, Cameroon, Germany, France, Spain, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Iraq, Armenia, Cambodia, Ukraine, Latvia, Rwanda, and Bangladesh. She received her MA and PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania and her BA with honors from Columbia University and has received fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, and the MacArthur Foundation.