Dr. Balkan Devlen is a strategic advisor, professor of international relations, and a geopolitical forecaster with over two decades of experience at the nexus of research and policy across three continents.
His writing, speaking, and teaching focus on geopolitics and international security with an emphasis on NATO and Transatlantic security, the Russia-China axis, forecasting/foresight, and the geopolitics of AI.
He helps governments, companies, and non-profit organisations anticipate the future and make better decisions through geopolitical forecasting, strategic scenarios, and bespoke briefings.
He has collaborated and worked with defence and intelligence agencies of NATO and Five Eyes countries, major financial institutions, Fortune 500 companies, UN agencies, NGOs, and leading universities and think tanks across North America and Europe.
He is Senior Fellow at the Montreal Institute for Global Security (MIGS) and at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI), and an Adjunct Research Professor at Carleton University where he teaches courses on the geopolitics of AI and on transatlantic security. He is the Co-Founder and Principal at the Pendulum Geopolitical Advisory, a boutique strategic advisory practice based in Ottawa. He is also an expert forecaster and trainer for Good Judgment, Founding Board Member of the Alliance for Global Security (AGS), and Associate Editor of the Journal of Geoeconomics. He qualified as a “Superforecaster” in the Good Judgment Project, a geopolitical forecasting competition sponsored by the US intelligence community (IARPA).
Previously, he was the Director of the Transatlantic Program at MLI and was a faculty member in the US, Turkey, and Denmark, where he taught courses on Transatlantic security, geopolitical forecasting, strategic foresight, and global catastrophic and existential risks.
In April 2022 he was sanctioned by Russia and in June 2025 he was awarded the Gold Cross of Merit by the Republic of Poland.
He published several academic articles and book chapters and his public commentary has appeared in The Globe and Mail, National Post, Toronto Star, Toronto Sun, The Hub, The Hill, and Inside Policy, among other outlets. He is a regular contributor to major Canadian media, including CBC, CTV, Global News, and national radio programs.He testified in the House of Commons in Canada, briefed senior policymakers in several NATO nations, and spoken in dozens of academic conferences, workshops, high-level policy forums, and public panels across the world.