Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski | Sofia, Bulgaria (Distant Learning) 

Doctoral Student, Ph.D in Philosophy, Concentration: Hate and Social Cohesion: 10/2025-present

Cornell University, Brooks School of Public Policy | Ithaca, NY 

Master of Public Administration, Concentration: Public & Nonprofit Management: 05/2019 

Morgan State University | Baltimore, MD

Master of International Studies: 05/2017 

John Cabot University | Rome, Italy 

Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs, Thesis: “US-Cuba Relations”: 05/2015 

Alexandria’s work explores the ethical, political, and institutional conditions that make cooperation possible.

Her scholarship is especially concerned with:

• social cohesion and civic belonging

• institutional legitimacy and public trust

• hate, conflict, and ethical breakdown

• democratic norms and shared responsibility

• governance in periods of social and technological disruption

• artificial intelligence, human values, and institutional design

• diplomacy, global cooperation, and the future of public institutions

Her research is informed by her experience across academia, philanthropy, international affairs, nonprofit leadership, public policy, and institution-building.

Social Cohesion and Civic Belonging

This area examines how people come to understand themselves as part of a shared society despite differences in race, class, ideology, religion, geography, and political identity.

Alexandria is interested in the norms, practices, institutions, and narratives that enable people to remain connected across disagreement.

Key questions include:

• What creates a meaningful sense of belonging?

• What happens when citizens no longer trust one another?

• Can pluralistic societies maintain shared norms without demanding sameness?

• What forms of participation help people feel seen, heard, and politically significant?

Institutional Legitimacy and Democratic Governance

Institutions cannot function through authority alone. They must also be regarded as credible, fair, responsive, and worthy of public trust.

Alexandria studies how institutions gain, lose, and rebuild legitimacy, especially during periods of political polarization and rapid change.

This work explores:

• public trust

• institutional responsiveness

• democratic participation

• conflict-processing mechanisms

• accountability and representation

• civic norms

• governance reform

• institutional design

Ethics, Hate, and Political Conflict

Alexandria’s philosophical research examines how hatred develops, how it becomes socially organized, and how moral exclusion can transform political opponents into perceived enemies.

Her work considers the relationship between:

• identity and group conflict

• resentment and moral injury

• dehumanization

• social narratives

• ethical responsibility

• political violence

• public memory

• reconciliation

Rather than treating hate only as an individual emotion, this research considers it as a social, political, and institutional phenomenon.

AI Ethics and Technological Governance

Alexandria’s emerging research explores how artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies are reshaping institutions, public decision-making, human values, and social cooperation.

She is especially interested in the idea that AI systems are becoming institutional actors: they influence access to information, shape decisions, mediate communication, and increasingly participate in systems of authority.

Her questions include:

• Who determines the values embedded in AI systems?

• What makes AI governance legitimate?

• How should AI systems respond to moral and cultural disagreement?

• What responsibilities do institutions have when deploying automated systems?

• How should human oversight work as AI systems become more capable?

• Can constitutional or rule-based approaches help align AI behavior with human values?

• How can philosophy and democratic theory inform the design of advanced systems?

This research connects her work in institutional legitimacy, ethics, diplomacy, and governance to emerging debates in AI safety and technological design.

Global Governance and Human Cooperation

Alexandria also studies how global institutions respond to challenges that cross national borders, including technological disruption, democratic instability, inequality, climate pressures, and changing geopolitical power.

Her work considers:

• diplomacy and multilateral cooperation

• institutional adaptation

• U.S.–Africa relations

• diaspora engagement

• global leadership

• international public policy

• the future of international institutions

• governance under conditions of uncertainty

Questions Guiding the Work

• How do societies preserve shared civic life when citizens disagree about fundamental values?

• What makes an institution legitimate in the eyes of the people it serves?

• How can democratic systems process conflict without allowing disagreement to become political violence?

• What role should shared norms play in pluralistic societies?

• How should institutions respond when trust has already collapsed?

• How can AI systems be governed across cultural, political, and moral differences?

• What forms of institutional design are needed for challenges operating at planetary scale?

• How can diplomacy and democratic practice evolve in response to emerging technology?

Current Research in Progress

1.  [IN PROCESS] Latimer Fellowship in partnership with RAND Corporation "Strategic Stability in the Age of AI: A Policy Framework for Legitimacy, Governance, and Civilizational Social Cohesion"

Spring 2026

2.  Mythologies of the future: ideology, anthropotechnics, posthumanism: “Designing Belonging: Will Future Technologies Engineer Social Cohesion or Perfect Division?” 

3. Contemporary American Aesthetics and the Puzzles of Art: "How Far Is Too Far? On Representing Hate, Harm, and Historical Violence in Contemporary American Art" 

4. Modal Metaphysics: “Modal Tolerance and the Limits of Intuition”: A Case Study on the Possibility of a Modern U.S. Civil War"

5. Contemporary Epistemology: “Do We Still Share Reality?” Epistemic Fragmentation and the Precondition for Civil War"

6. Continental Philosophy: “Violence and the Making of Social Order" Nietzsche, Schmitt, and Girard on the Hidden Foundations of Cohesion

7. Existential Dialectics: “Ethics Before Ontology: Heidegger, Levinas, and the Question of the Other” 

Fall 2025 

1. Social Philosophy: "Formal and Informal Justice" 

2. Subject and Project(ivity): "Hate as a Failure of Project(ivity)" 

3. Philosophy of Culture After Modernity: "Hate After Modernity: Imagination, Recognition, and the Breakdown of Cultural Mediation"

4. Language, World, and Cultural Relativity: “The Moral Grammar of Hate: A Modern Interpretation of Emmanuel Levinas and Moral Responsibility"

Prior Articles, Publications, and Media

1. Article. (December 2024). Atlantic Council. “Experts React: Alexandria J. Maloney: Trump should anticipate the need for US engagement in Africa”. (link) 

2. Magazine Feature. (November 2024). Monarch Magazine. “Profile: Alexandria Maloney”. (link) 

3. Article. (July 2023). Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy. “Alexandria Maloney MPA ’19: Building the Next Generation of Inclusive Leaders”. (link) 

4. Research Paper. (December 2018). Cornell University Institute of Public Affairs. “A Systems Thinking Approach to Diversity and Inclusion in Five U.S. Foreign Affairs Agencies”. (link)

5. John Cabot University. (2015) Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs, Thesis: “US-Cuba Relations”.