International Advisory Council /

Elisabeth Ungar Bleier

Elisabeth Ungar Bleier is Colombian born of Austrian immigrant parents. Her academic and non-profit activities have related to strengthening democracies and democratic institutions; transparency and anti-corruption in the public and private sectors; and citizen participation and social movements.

A political scientist educated at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, she has a Master´s
Degree in Legal Institutions and Sociology of Law from the University of Wisconsin in
Madison. She is the founder of Congreso Visible (Visible Congress), a watchdog organisation, and was a professor and researcher in the Department of Political Science at Universidad de los Andes from 1975 until 2009, serving as Director of the Department (1995-1996) and a board member of the university (2005-present).

For nine years, she was the Executive Director of Transparencia por Colombia, the
Colombian chapter of Transparency International (TI), later joining its global board of directors. She has also been a member of other boards, such as the World Movement for
Democracy and the Latin American and Caribbean Network for Democracy. She has been
a member of the National Anti Corruption Citizen Commission, the Regional Alliance
for Freedom of Expression and Access to Information, several watch dog NGOs
and “La Paz Querida”.

She was selected by an independent commission to be part of the Misión Electoral
Especial (Special Electoral Commission), created in compliance with the Peace
Agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP.

She is the author of numerous books and articles about transparency, anti-corruption,
political reform, political parties, and congress. She is a permanent columnist of El Espectador, the second largest Colombian daily newspaper. Fluent in Spanish, English and German, and proficient in French, she is the proud mother of two wonderful young women.

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Negotiating with Criminal Groups: IFIT Guidance Note for Good-Faith Promoters

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Premiers principes : La nécessité d’un consensus plus large sur les éléments fondamentaux de la polarisation

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