The Foreign Service Journal, December 2020

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2020 45 Mark Palmer Award for the Advancement of Democracy Alexandra Shema Establishing Building Blocks for Democracy in Moldova P olitical Officer Alexandra She- ma’s leadership and engage- ment with political leaders, the opposition and civil soci- ety strengthened Moldova’s fledgling democracy. She provided timely analysis that was instrumental in shaping the embassy’s policy recommendations for Washington and supporting the coun- try’s democratic reforms. Last year, an unlikely coalition of pro-Western and pro- Russian opposition parties gave Moldova, long considered a “captured” state, its best chance in a decade for real democratic reforms. Ms. Shema’s reporting helped Washington navigate a weeklong standoff between dueling governments and rising tensions that threatened to turn violent. Her actions enabled the United States to send a timely and critical message to Mol- dova’s authorities: The interna- tional community would not tolerate repression. Ms. Shema’s efforts also helped genuinely independent institutions to flourish, reinforced U.S. leader- ship in Moldova’s democratic development and hardened its institutions against malign foreign actors. Ms. Shema worked closely with the ambassador, the deputy chief of mission, USAID and the International Narcot- ics and Law Enforcement Bureau to reform Moldova’s justice sector. Her advocacy targeted $7 million in U.S. assistance to strengthen institutions and combat high-level corruption. Ms. Shema helped guide a range of actions to support these goals, including the appointment of a new, independent constitu- tional court and prosecutor general, the removal of several cor- rupt officials, and increased budgets and staffing for Moldova’s corruption-fighting institutions. Ms. Shema also wrote a widely covered speech for the ambassador that laid out the United States’ expectations for Moldova’s anti-corruption and judicial reform. She choreo- graphed and helped lead the first U.S.-Moldova Good Gover- nance Dialogue, drawing on her network of contacts to facili- tate an open discussion between the government, opposition parties and civil society. Participants praised her initiative as a model for building stronger checks and balances on the gov- ernment; the Ministry of Justice now includes civil society and a wide range of stakeholders in ongoing public consultations. While the roots of democracy take decades to nurture, reforms Ms. Shema fostered in Moldova are already showing results. One significant example: The constitutional court, once subverted to oligarchic control, now has independent members who were installed during the pro-reform govern- ment’s brief tenure. And when Moldova’s current government later signed a problematic 200-million-Euro loan agreement with Moscow, the constitutional court ruled it was unconstitu- tional and undermined Moldova’s sovereignty. “For me, this award is a recognition of the inspiring and exceptional work the entire Embassy Chisinau team has done to promote democratic values, free and fair elections, and justice reform in Moldova,” Ms. Shema tells the FSJ . “It is also a reminder that there is still a lot more work to be done, and an encouragement to keep fighting every day for the Moldovan people to have a more free, just, prosperous and democratic future.” Alexandra Shema has served as the political officer at Embassy Chisinau since July 2018. She previously served as a human rights officer in Paris and as the immigrant visa chief in Guayaquil, Ecuador. She began her Department of State career in July 2009 as a Presidential Management Fellow, serving as a foreign affairs research analyst in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and later Alexandra Shema. Ambassador Dereck J. Hogan and Alexandra Shema attend an election event in Moldova.