Dr. April A. Herlevi examines China's political economy and foreign policy to educate and inform policymakers, scholars, and the national security community on the role of China's commercial, economic, and military actors globally. My scholarship bridges the academic-policy divide and contributes to policy debates on the intersection between economics and national security.
I earned my PhD from the University of Virginia's (UVA) Department of Politics, with concentrations in international relations and comparative politics. My dissertation examined the causes and consequences of special economic zones (SEZs), utilizing multi-method approaches. I employed cross-national statistical analysis to compare SEZ enactment decisions and conducted extensive extensive field research on select zones. While at UVA, I taught courses on Chinese Politics, US Foreign Policy, Ethics and Human Rights in World Affairs, and Introduction to Comparative Politics.
Prior to the PhD program, I served in the US government holding positions with the US Navy, US Marine Corps, and US Agency for International Development (USAID). I am currently a Senior Research Scientist with the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), a non-profit research organization based in Arlington, Virginia, and a Nonresident Fellow with the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR), a think tank based in Seattle and Washington, DC..
I have conducted field research in China, Indonesia, Jordan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and studied abroad in China, Mexico, and South Africa. In addition to these research-related experiences I have traveled to Bosnia, China, Colombia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Malta, Qatar, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.
In my free time I enjoy hiking, running, yoga and exploring the beautiful diversity that our world offers.