Research:My research is driven by a deep fascination with the dynamics in communities where state presence is minimal or entirely absent. Through extensive fieldwork in rural and often indigenous areas of Latin America, I explore the challenges faced when the state fails to deliver essential public goods and services, particularly security. This focus has led me to investigate two key questions with significant academic and practical implications:
My dissertation In the Absence of Order: State Absenteeism, Vigilantism, and Security Provision, addresses these questions by developing a theoretical framework and testing it with an original dataset. This dataset maps the distribution of security resources, such police stations, across Guatemala and examines how state absenteeism—where the state deliberately withholds essential services—affects different communities. My research finds that state absenteeism often disproportionately impacts indigenous communities, leading to significant security disparities. In response to the lack of state provision, these communities frequently develop their own informal security measures, such as vigilantism. By centering state absenteeism in the analysis of vigilantism, my research advances debates on security and state-building while also offering a theoretical lens for examining other state-building initiatives and patterns of public goods provision. This framework helps explain not only how communities respond to insecurity, but also how they adapt to state neglect in areas such as health, education, and infrastructure. Publications: “State Absenteeism: Vigilantism and Security Provision in Latin America” -Latin American Politics and Society- www.cambridge.org/core/journals/latin-american-politics-and-society/article/state-absenteeism-vigilantism-and-security-provision-in-latin-america/7EAED2352D50AFA2E478D51566648B82 Abstract: This article explores the underlying causes of vigilantism, moving beyond existing explanations to propose a novel perspective: state absenteeism. Drawing upon an original dataset collected at the subnational level in Guatemala, the study utilizes police station data as a proxy measure of state presence. This research article sheds light on the intricate dynamics driving vigilantism by analyzing the interplay between state actions, security provision, and the emergence of extralegal justice mechanisms. Empirical findings suggest that existing theories do not fully explain the surge in vigilantism, underscoring the importance of considering state provision of security at the subnational level. This theoretical and empirical contribution highlights the role of uneven state presence in shaping responses to insecurity and calls for more equitable and locally responsive security provision to address the root causes of extralegal justice "Shifting Positions: Part Positions and Political Manifestos in Costa Rica" -Latin American Politics and Society- www.cambridge.org/core/journals/latin-american-politics-and-society/article/shifting-positions-party-positions-and-political-manifestos-in-costa-rica/104B2B1880B4D986B53DB9C7DDF9D915 Abstract: This article analyzes how niche parties may utilize a strategy of policy shifting to garner additional voters. It leverages a unique opportunity in which a Costa Rican political party released two different versions of its party manifesto at different moments during a single election cycle. This rare opportunity uncovers how the party shifted from having a hard conservative stance on social issues, such as abortion, to moderating its stance and centering its focus on less contentious issues in a runoff election campaign. Understanding how a single political party may alter its strategy is important because it allows us to better gauge the effectiveness of shifting policy positions, especially for niche parties, for which a particular issue area is dominant. Moreover, this analysis opens additional avenues of research on political parties in the Latin American context, since research utilizing manifesto data in this context has been limited. Under Review: “All Politics are National? Local and National Participation in Latin America” (with Erik Fay) Abstract: This study investigates individual and contextual factors shaping political participation across 17 Latin American countries by analyzing public opinion survey data from the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP). It focuses on identifying the conditions that drive political engagement from the local to the national level in the region. Additionally, the study explores whether variations in the political environment—particularly in terms of decentralization—affect participation levels. Decentralization in Latin America, initiated as part of post-Third Wave democratization reforms, aimed to bolster state legitimacy, democratic governance, and citizen participation. However, the literature on how decentralization influences political participation at both local and national levels in the region remains limited. This paper addresses that gap by connecting individual-level theories of local participation with national-level contextual factors, such as variations in decentralization, to better understand how citizens' behavior responds to differences in their domestic environment. Empirical evidence shows that individuals who engage locally are more likely to participate nationally, and higher levels of decentralization foster greater political participation at the national level. Works in Progress “Unveiling Inequity: Understanding State Absenteeism in Security Provision” “The Aftermath of Violence: Exploring State Absenteeism and its Links to Security and Vigilantism in Post-Civil War Guatemala” “Who Supports Vigilantism? Contextual and Individual Determinants for Extralegal Justice” “Brazilian Bureaucratic Organizations: An Analysis of Networks and Job Satisfaction” (with Ames, B., Guedes-Neto, J., and McCoy, D.) |