Wednesday 25 June 2025
London
This panel examined how intensified geopolitical competition had reshaped borderland dynamics, highlighting the strategic importance of these regions in global power struggles. Speakers discussed how conflicts in and across regions were influenced by broader concerns over vulnerability, encirclement, and the protection of economic interests or co-ethnic populations.
Listen to the full panel session
Panellists:
Mariam Safi – Organization for Policy Research and Development Studies (DROPS)
Mariam Safi is the founding Executive Director of the Organization for Policy Research and Development Studies (DROPS), a think tank established in Afghanistan in 2014 and expanded to Canada in 2021. With over 15 years of experience as a researcher and peacebuilding practitioner, she has worked extensively across Afghanistan and the South Asian region. Her expertise lies in inclusive governance, conflict resolution, gender-responsive policy development, and international security, with a strong focus on elevating women’s voices in fragile and conflict-affected settings. Her work bridges grassroots perspectives with global policy frameworks to support sustainable and inclusive peace in the Global South.
Peter Salisbury – Century International
A Fellow at Century International, a New York-based international affairs think tank, assistant adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and consultant to the World Bank, Salisbury studies the political economy of armed conflict in the Middle East and North Africa. His research examines the role of and illicit cross-border trade in shaping regional and global political dynamics and conflict patterns. Salisbury’s multidisciplinary approach combines on-ground fieldwork with open-source and other forms of data analysis, offering unique insights into complex geopolitical challenges in the MENA region and beyond.
Suliman Baldo – Sudan Transparency and Policy Tracker
Dr. Suliman Baldo is an expert in human rights, transitional justice, and conflict resolution in his native Sudan and Africa. He served as the Africa head of the International Crisis Group and the International Center for Transitional Justice. He has also served as Sudan Senior Advisor in The Sentry, a think tank that exposes the links between grand corruption and atrocity crimes. Baldo also volunteered as a human rights and transitional justice expert in the United Nations investigations of war crimes in Ivory Coast and Mali and as an advisor to the joint African Union and UN mediation team on the conflict in Darfur (2009-2011). He currently leads the Sudan Transparency and Policy Tracker.
Moderator:
Adam Burke – The Asia Foundation
Dr Adam Burke leads The Asia Foundation’s Peace and Stability programme, overseeing initiatives that address conflict, fragility, and violence across South and Southeast Asia. With nearly 20 years of experience, he has worked extensively in countries including Afghanistan, Myanmar, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, providing strategic guidance and technical support.
He has led major research efforts such as Contested Areas of Myanmar, and collaborated with organisations including the UN, World Bank, ADB, and UK Government on post-conflict assessments, peacebuilding strategies, and political risk analysis. Burke holds degrees from the University of Oxford and SOAS, University of London.