Newswise — WASHINGTON (August 5, 2024) – Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, resigned from her position and fled the country after protesters stormed her residence and set fire to government offices, The Washington Post reports. Hasina, who was seen as an increasingly authoritarian leader, had served in this role for 15 years. She was forced out when peaceful protests turned into deadly clashes with security forces after weeks of demonstrations. The country's army is now tasked with overseeing the formation of an interim government.
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Alyssa Ayres, Dean of the GW Elliott School of International Affairs and a professor of history and international affairs, is a foreign policy practitioner and award-winning author with senior experience in the government, nonprofit, and private sectors. From 2010 to 2013 Ayres served as deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia. During her tenure at the State Department in the Barack Obama administration, she covered all issues across a dynamic region of 1.3 billion people at the time (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) and provided policy direction for four U.S. embassies and four consulates. Her work focuses primarily on India’s role in the world and on U.S. relations with South Asia in the larger Indo-Pacific.
Deepa Ollapally, research professor of international affairs, is the associate director of the GW Sigur Center for Asian Studies and director of the Rising Power Initiative. Ollapally is an expert on Indian foreign policy, US-India relations, great power competition in the Indian Ocean and India-China relations. Ollapally has authored five books and is currently working on a funded book, Big Power Competition for Influence in the Indian Ocean Region. Ollapally has held senior positions in the policy world including the US Institute of Peace, Washington DC and the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India.
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