Valery Perry, PhD
Dr. Valery Perry has worked in the Western Balkans since the late 1990s, conducting research and working for organizations, including the Democratization Policy Council (DPC), the European Center for Minority Issues (ECMI), the Public International Law and Policy Group (PILPG), the NATO Stabilization Force (SFOR), and several NGOs. She has worked at both the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the OSCE Mission to Serbia. At a broader regional and global level, she has consulted for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the UN Development Program, IMPAQ International, Interpeace, and other organizations. Dr. Perry taught courses in conflict analysis and resolution at the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology. She attended public schools, and went on to receive a bachelor’s from the University of Rochester, a master’s from Indiana University’s Russian and East European Institute, and a doctorate from George Mason University’s Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution.
Dr. Perry has published numerous articles and book chapters, has spoken at conferences and policy events in the United States and throughout Europe, and has testified at the U.S. Congress. She has edited three books, and was on a team that prepared the Improving Your Programmatic Learning Journey: A Resource Guide for HDP Nexus Practitioners published by the Knowledge Platform Security Rule of Law in 2025. Her first documentary film, “Looking for Dayton,” was screened at the 26th Sarajevo Film Festival in August 2020.
Select Publications
Improving Your Programmatic Learning Journey: A Resource Guide for HDP Nexus Practitioners. Knowledge Platform Security Rule of Law. January 2025. https://kpsrl.org/publication/improving-your-programmatic-learning-journey-a-resource-guide-for-hdp-nexus-practitioners
“Missed Opportunities: Reheating Stale Policies in the Western Balkans after a Year of War in Ukraine.” A Year Later: War in Ukraine and Western Balkan (Geo)Politics. Jelena Džankić, Simonida Kacarska and Soeren Keil (Eds.). European University Institute, 2023. https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/75524/QM-03-23-131-EN-N.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
“Territorial Rights under the Dayton Accords: An Exploration of Four Exceptions.” Global Encyclopedia of Territorial Rights. Springer, 2022.
“Desperately Seeking Empowerment: Perspectives on Women, Radicalization and Extremism in the Western Balkans.” Introduction to special section of Nationalism and Ethnic Politics. Vol. 27, No. 2, 2021, pp. 169-175.
Sell Out, Tune Out, Get Out, or Freak Out? Understanding Corruption, State Capture, Radicalization, Pacification, Resilience, and Emigration in Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia. (Ed.) Eurothink. Skopje, 2021. Available at http://www.democratizationpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Eurothink-DPC-Final-Report-to-Publish-March-2021.pdf
“Polarization, Illiberalism and the Nature of Extremisms: A Yugoslav Canary in an American Coalmine?,” Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 26:4, 2020, 440-450.
Extremism and Violent Extremism in Serbia: 21-st Century Manifestations of an Historical Challenge. Valery Perry (Ed.) Ibidem Press/Columbia University Press, 2019.
“Frozen, Stalled, Stuck or Just Muddling Through: the post-Dayton Frozen Conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina.” Asia Europe Journal. August 2018. Available at https://link.springer.com/journal/10308/17/1
“Reflections on Efforts to Prevent and Counter Radicalization and Violent Extremism in the Balkans.” Democratization Policy Council Policy Note 15. June 2017. Available at http://www.democratizationpolicy.org/pdf/DPCPolicyNote15_ReflectionsonP_CVE.pdf
“Erratic Ambiguity: The Impact of Trump’s Unpredictable Foreign Policy in the Western Balkans.” Democratization Policy Council Policy Paper. June 2017. Available at http://www.democratizationpolicy.org/pdf/DPC_Policy_Paper_Erratic_Ambiguity_Trumps_Foreign_Policy_in_W_Balkans.pdf
Selected Presentations
“Competing Extremisms in the Western Balkans: Structural Drivers, External Influences and Domestic Consequences.” Geoffrey Nice Foundation on Law, History, Politics and Society in the Context of Mass Atrocities. Pristina, Kosovo, November 22-24, 2019.
“Civil Society and Democracy in the post-post Cold War World.” Beyond Projects: Local Legitimacy and Civil Society Advocacy in BiH. (Discussant) Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Sarajevo, October 25, 2019.
“Reflections on Competing Powers in the Western Balkans.” Russia and Turkey in BiH and Serbia. Friedrich Neumann Foundation. Sarajevo, October 5, 2019.
“The Dayton Agreement: 24 Years of Complex Governance in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Lessons Learned from the 2018 Elections.” European Committee of the Regions, Brussels. Working Group on Relations with the Western Balkans. June 18, 2019, Brussels.
“Extremism and Violent Extremism in Serbia.” Book presentation at the United States Institute for Peace, Washington DC, May 7, 2019.
“Extremism and Violence: Current Trends.” The 6th RACVIAC/KAS Security Challenges for Europe. Zagreb, Croatia, November 22-23, 2018.
Civic Solidarity Platform Workshop on Counter-terrorism and Human Rights. Vienna, Austria, 21 November 2017.
“Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism in Serbia: Early Warning and Prevention.” International Countering Violent Extremism Research Conference. Hedayah, ORSAM and United Nations Development Program. Antalya, Turkey, October 30 – November 1, 2017.
Regional Conference on Countering Violent Extremism for Western Balkan Strong Cities Network Members. (Moderator/Discussant.) Durres, Albania, September 12-13, 2017.
“Efforts to Prevent and Counter Violent Extremism in South-East Europe.” Presentation at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly 94th Rose-Roth Seminar, Mediterranean and Middle East Special Group. Sarajevo, March 21-23, 2017.
Education
- PhD, Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University Institute for Conflict Analysis & Resolution
- MA, Russian and East European Area Studies, Indiana University
- BA, Russian and Political Science
