Helder Ferreira do Vale is Associate Professor at Hankuk University’s (HUFS) Graduate School of International and Area Studies (GSIAS) in Seoul, South Korea. He holds a Ph.D. from the European University Institute - EUI (Florence, Italy), M.A. from Johns Hopkins University (Washington D.C., USA), and B.A. from Richmond American International University (London, UK). His research interests include federalism, comparative politics, democratization and global food regimes. His works appears in several peer-reviewed journals. In the past, he held academic positions at the University of Barcelona, University of Lisbon, University of Cape Town, Institute of Advanced Studies Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg (HWK), among others. Also, he has worked for the Spanish Ministry of the Presidency as well as for several international organizations including the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).