Misha is a Fullbright Scholar in US-Australian Alliance studies, sponsored by AUSMIN.
Misha Zelinsky, EMPA
Studying at the London School of Economics, one of the world’s great universities, was a dream come true. The structure of the EMPA program was absolutely perfect for me – someone insane enough to regularly fly back and forth from Australia for the modules – and it taught me more than I could ever have hoped.
I began my career as a criminal defence lawyer for the Aboriginal Legal Service, working in regional Australia as part of my passion for social justice. Eventually this passion led me to the trade union movement and the Australian Labor Party. I am now the Assistant National Secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union, the Secretary of the ALP’s National Policy Forum and a director of Cbus Super – an Australian superannuation fund with nearly $70 billion under management. These roles allow me to secure equality and justice for working people while shaping public policy at a national level.
LSE’s School of Public Policy was a natural fit for my interests and passions. It goes without saying that 2016 was a seminal and disruptive year in global politics. It upended so many of our collective assumptions about the world while shredding political and policy orthodoxy. As a person who confidently predicted Brexit wouldn’t happen and Trump couldn’t win (yep, I am that guy) I needed to learn what was happening – fast.
The political science module with Simon Hix is hands down the best course I have ever taken. To learn from one of the world’s foremost experts about why the world had so dramatically shifted was an experience I still draw on today. Every MPA module was expansive and the ability to engage with leading practitioners made the course practical as well as intellectual. LSE’s focus on rigorous, evidence-based analysis ensures you can back up your convictions with hard data.
My fascination in the challenges posed to democracies by technological and economic disruption, populism, and revisionist autocratic regimes has led me to the United States as a Fulbright Scholar in US-Australian Alliance Studies, sponsored by AUSMIN with a focus on Indo-Pacific research. My Fulbright Scholarship research seeks to address the rise of political warfare attacks on democracies by autocratic regimes as well as the return of great power and systems competition. How democracies respond to these challenges without losing what makes them special will be the defining challenge of our age. I’m confident that LSE gave me the tools and training to pursue this interest with confidence, insight, and vigour.
If you can find your way to LSE – do not hesitate. Go for it!
Misha is happy to connect via LinkedIn.