Olaf Böhnke is a strategic leader and dedicated advocate for democracy with over 20 years of experience in international politics, focusing on the intersection of geopolitics, democracy, and digital technology.
Olaf serves as Senior Advisor and Berlin Director of the political consultancy Rasmussen Global as well as the Alliance of Democracies Foundation (AoD), both founded by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former NATO Secretary General and former Prime Minister of Denmark.
At the Foundation, Olaf focuses on the geopolitical debate on democracy and, in particular, the impact of emerging technologies on it worldwide. He is a Senior Advisor to the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity (TCEI), which was launched in early 2018 by Mr. Rasmussen along with former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, former U.S. Secretary of State Michael Chertoff, and other prominent figures. Transatlantic and bipartisan in nature, the TCEI aims to help share analysis, advice and best practices among policymakers, the technology industry, and civil society around the world, and to raise public awareness of the real risks of foreign election interference. Olaf initiated a series of pro-democracy initiatives and tools like the “Pledge for Election Integrity“, the online game “The Disinformation Diaries” or the group simulation “The Digital Media LitLab“.
Olaf has worked for many years in leading positions in the German Bundestag and the international think tank community. He is the former director of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) office in Berlin as well as the founding Executive Manager of the European China Policy Unit at the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS). He was an associate fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) and a visiting professor for political sciences at the Free University of Berlin.
Olaf has been publishing and frequently quoted on European and transatlantic topics in the New York Times, The Economist, CNN, BBC, ZDF, Süddeutsche Zeitung, FAZ, The Guardian, Washington Post, TRT World, Al Jazeera, Deutsche Welle and many more.
@politixs
Selection of recent articles on election integrity:
• The 2024 super-election year: navigating the geopolitical disinformation maze
• Combating Election Interference With Collaboration and Creativity
• The Global Story of Election Interference
• The Election Risk Monitor – Germany’s Bundestag Election 2021
