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E.g., 04/20/2024
Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan
Experts & Staff
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Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan

Deputy Director, International Program

(202) 266-1923

@nataliabbogdan

Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan is Deputy Director of MPI’s International Program, where she oversees the Institute’s comparative work on social cohesion, migration and development, global governance, and climate. She has authored numerous publications on social integration and identity, public opinion and narratives, and international cooperation on migration, with a particular focus on Europe and Latin America. She is also a Nonresident Fellow with MPI Europe.

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+1 202-266-1910
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Ms. Banulescu-Bogdan has represented MPI at international events and processes such as the Global Forum on Migration and Development, the International Migration Review Forum, the Group of Friends of the Quito Process, working groups of the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s working group on migration communication (NETCOM). She regularly advises governments and international organizations on the design and implementation of migration policies and programs, including on topics such as combating xenophobia, targeting development investments, and designing effective communications strategies around migration.

Since joining MPI in 2008, Ms. Banulescu-Bogdan has also worked closely with MPI’s flagship international initiative, the Transatlantic Council on Migration, through which she has helped advise stakeholders on various aspects of migration management and authored countless private policy memos for governments in Europe, North America, and beyond. Prior to joining MPI, she worked at the Brookings Institution, helping to develop public policy seminars for senior government officials in the Institution’s executive education program.

Ms. Banulescu-Bogdan obtained her master’s in nationalism studies from the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary, where she wrote about the political mobilization of Roma in Romania. She received a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania. In her personal time, she manages an informal network of community volunteers supporting newly arrived refugees in Washington, DC and Maryland.

Bio Page Tabs

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Reports
January 2019
By  Aliyyah Ahad and Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan
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Reports
November 2018
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan and Kate Hooper
In Search of Common Values amid Large-Scale Immigrant Integration Pressures
Reports
June 2017
By  Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan and Meghan Benton
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Reports
March 2017
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Meghan Benton and Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan
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Reports
July 2016
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan
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Policy Briefs
April 2016
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Richard Alba, Nancy Foner and Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan

Pages

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Even with the collapse of the Islamic State's "caliphate," thousands of Western foreign fighters are estimated to remain in the Middle East. Deciding how to handle the return of the radicalized—and their dependents—is no easy issue. Some countries seek to revoke their citizenship. Yet citizenship revocation has unclear impact and raises deep questions about the limits of a state’s responsibility to its citizens, as this article explores.

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The success of populist movements on both sides of the Atlantic in 2016, including Donald Trump's victory in the United States and the United Kingdom's vote to quit the European Union, have sparked an identity crisis in the West. Campaigns effectively tapped into the anxieties of voters who feel left behind by societal change and out-of-touch elites, while normalizing anti-immigrant rhetoric in mainstream discourse, as this Top 10 article explores.

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Citizenship came under fire in new ways around the world in 2015, with attempts to both restrict who is eligible to become a citizen and who can be deprived of citizenship. Driven by fears of international terrorism, a number of countries proposed or passed legislation making it easier to narrow citizenship and broadening the range of offenses for which individuals can be stripped of their citizenship.

Cover Top10 6Rhetoric

As seemingly endless waves of asylum seekers and migrants arrived in Europe in 2015, politicians from across the political spectrum invoked forceful anti-immigrant rhetoric that resonated in some quarters. Mainstream politicians began co-opting the tougher, more enforcement-laden language of far-right groups as all parties sought to reassure voters in the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris.

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As Europe struggles to reach a consensus on how to respond to the refugee crisis, the seemingly unending flow of migrants and refugees arriving on its shores is bringing national asylum systems to their breaking point. This article analyzes the context of the crisis, discussing the root causes of the flows, why they are spiking now, and growing protection challenges.

The murder of an anti-fascist rapper in 2013 dealt a severe blow to Greece's extremist, virulently anti-immigrant political party Golden Dawn, whose popularity had been increasing (relatively unchecked) since 2010. The party, which rejects the neo-Nazi label that many have applied to it, provoked a national outcry in September after a party sympathizer confessed to killing Pavlos Fyssas.

In recent years, many governments have tightened their citizenship requirements as a way to promote better immigrant integration. In examining citizenship policy in the United States, Canada, and countries in the European Union, this article considers the balance policymakers face between requirements that may be too difficult for immigrants to meet and ones that will better help them find success in their new countries of residence.

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Commentaries
March 2021
By  Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan and Diego Chaves-González
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Commentaries
February 2021
By  Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan and Diego Chaves-González
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Commentaries
March 2020
By  Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan, Meghan Benton and Susan Fratzke
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Commentaries
May 2019
By  Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan
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Commentaries
March 2017
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan
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Video, Audio
November 18, 2020

This MPI Europe webinar reflects on the implications of this current moment for European economies and societies and the role of immigration and immigrant integration policy, and highlight research from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre on the fiscal and demographic impacts of migration.

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Video, Audio
March 24, 2020

This webinar, organized by MPI and the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility at The New School, discussed migration policy responses around the globe in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and examined where migration management and enforcement tools may be useful and where they may be ill-suited to advancing public health goals. 

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Video, Audio
September 27, 2019

Felipe Muñoz, Advisor to the President of Colombia for the Colombian-Venezuelan Border, discusses how Colombia is coping with the influx of Venezuelan migrants, plans for future policy decisions surrounding this migration, and developments in regional and international cooperation.

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Video, Audio
November 15, 2018

In advance of the December 2018 adoption of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration, which includes a commitment to facilitate the return and reintegration of migrants, this webinar examines the policies, practices, and contextual factors that make compulsory returns such a difficult issue for international cooperation.

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Video, Audio
September 12, 2018

As the final phase of preparations for the historic adoption of a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration approaches, this webinar explores two central objectives of the compact: enhancing the availability and flexibility of pathways for regular migration, and investing in skills development.

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Recent Activity

Reports
October 2021

As migration levels rise, societies are facing competing narratives about immigration. Often, there is dissonance between top-down narratives from political leaders and bottom-up narratives spread through personal and media engagement. This report explores positive and negative narratives around migration in Colombia, Lebanon, Morocco, Sweden, and the United States to determine the contexts in which some stick while others fail.

Video, Audio, Webinars
October 4, 2021

This virtual conference explores how the diverse landscape of partnerships, social enterprises, participatory models, and community-led initiatives spearheading social innovation for inclusion has fared during COVID-19. It also focuses on how this ecosystem can emerge strengthened from the pandemic, and be a vital force in addressing new humanitarian challenges.

Reports
July 2021

Being there for one another is a fundamental response to adversity, but what happens when in-person interactions are limited in the interest of public health? This report explores the pandemic’s effects on social cohesion in Europe and North America, including its impact on bonds between and within diverse groups, on immigrant integration programming, and on volunteering and other forms of solidarity. It underscores the importance of planning for an inclusive recovery.

Commentaries
March 2021

El anuncio del presidente de Colombia que los estimados 1,7 millones de migrantes venezolanos recibirán un estatus de protección temporal migratoria por un periodo de diez años representa un hecho valiente y sin precedentes en América Latina. El reto que sigue será el de poder materializar este esfuerzo en una política pública que abogue por un proceso de cohesión social en el país.

Commentaries
February 2021

Colombian President Iván Duque’s announcement that the estimated 1.7 million Venezuelans in Colombia will receive a ten-year protection status represents a bold, first-of-its-kind move in Latin America. However, translating this ambitious legalization into action will require both a massive logistical effort and long-term planning to assure social cohesion, as this commentary explores.

Policy Briefs
December 2020

National governments and UN agencies have been working to implement the Global Compact on Refugees and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration. Where has the most progress been made as the compacts hit the two-year mark? And how has the process played out differently for the two pacts? This policy brief explores these questions, the growing divergence between the pacts, and how challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic are shaping implementation.

Video, Audio, Webinars
November 18, 2020

This MPI Europe webinar reflects on the implications of this current moment for European economies and societies and the role of immigration and immigrant integration policy, and highlight research from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre on the fiscal and demographic impacts of migration.

Video, Audio, Webinars
March 24, 2020

This webinar, organized by MPI and the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility at The New School, discussed migration policy responses around the globe in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and examined where migration management and enforcement tools may be useful and where they may be ill-suited to advancing public health goals. 

Pages