Geoffrey Macdonald

Geoffrey Macdonald, Ph.D. is a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow in the United States Senate, where he is a foreign policy advisor on South Asia and other international issues for a Senator. He is also a nonresident Associate at Harvard University's Asia Center. Dr. Macdonald was the Bangladesh Country Director based in Dhaka (2018-2022) and then Senior Advisor for Bangladesh (2022-2025) at the International Republican Institute, where he oversaw a wide-ranging democracy-assistance program that included civil society capacity-building, political party strengthening, civic education, and election monitoring. He was also a Visiting Expert in the South Asia Program at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), where he led analysis on Bangladesh. Dr. Macdonald's writing on Bangladesh has been published by Foreign Policy, the Atlantic Council, USIP, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He has briefed senior U.S. government policymakers at the White House National Security Council, U.S. State Department, U.S. Defense Department, and elsewhere on Bangladesh politics and his analysis has appeared in NPR, BBC, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, Vox, and other outlets.