Dr. Tanja Gertz Flanagan

About Me

Dr. Tanja Gertz Flanagan is the Head of Research at the Council on International Mediation (CIM) and Director of the Global Foreign Policy Initiative. A distinguished German and European policy specialist, her expertise spans international governance, European institutions, security, human rights, developmental politics, and the interaction between global norms and identity politics.

She earned her Ph.D. in International Relations from Georgetown University, where her dissertation—“Normative Discourse and European Security Institutions”—examined the relationship between discourse and security within European frameworks. She also holds an M.A. in German and European Studies from Georgetown University, a B.A. in Government and Politics (summa cum laude) from the University of Texas at Dallas, and academic certificates from the Rheinishe-Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Germany.

Before joining CIM, Dr. Flanagan served as Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University and the University of Mary Washington, where she taught courses in international relations, political science, and European studies. Her teaching and research have focused on international organizations, development politics, European relations, and human rights, earning her recognition for excellence in instruction and academic leadership.

She has also held research roles with the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, contributing to publications on U.S.–European security and German defense policy. A fluent English and German speaker, Dr. Flanagan is a published scholar and frequent conference presenter, with work addressing institutional agency, cultural globalization, and the constitutionalization of international human rights law.

At CIM, Dr. Flanagan oversees the organization’s research programs, directing policy studies and strategic initiatives that advance dialogue and mediation across regions.