Understanding the Political Crises in Brazil and Peru

This event is hybrid. To register for the in-person session, click here. To register for the virtual session, click here.

Speakers: Steve Levitsky, Professor of Government, Harvard University; Director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies; Fernando Bizzarro, PhD Candidate in Political Science, Harvard University; Graduate Student Associate of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs Studies
Moderated by: Frances Hagopian, Jorge Paulo Lemann Senior Lecturer on Government, Harvard University

Join our panel of experts as we delve into the current political crises in Brazil and Peru. From threats to democracy to protests and civil unrest, both countries are facing significant challenges. Our panel will provide insight into the root causes of these crises and discuss potential solutions. Don't miss this opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the complex issues facing these Latin American democracies and the impact they have on the region and the world.

Steven Levitsky is the Director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University. As the David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Government, his research focuses on democratization, authoritarianism, political parties, and weak and informal institutions. He is author (with Daniel Ziblatt) of How Democracies Die (Crown, 2018), a New York Times Best-Seller that has been published in 25 languages, Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War (with Lucan Way) (Cambridge, 2010), and Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America: Argentine Peronism in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge, 2003), and co -editor of Informal Institutions and Democracy in Latin America (with Gretchen Helmke) and The Resurgence of the Latin American Left (with Kenneth Roberts). He has written frequently for the New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Vox, The New Republic, The Monkey Cage, La República (Peru) and Folha de São Paulo (Brazil). He is currently writing a book (with Lucan Way) on the durability of revolutionary regimes. Levitsky received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.

Fernando Bizzarro is a comparativist who explores the nature, causes, and consequences of political institutions in Latin America and beyond. He is a PhD Candidate in Political Science at Harvard and a Graduate Student Associate of the Weatherhead Center. His dissertation explores the role economic inequality plays in creating the conditions for personalism in Latin America.

Frances Hagopian is Jorge Paulo Lemann Senior Lecturer on Government. She specializes in the comparative politics of Latin America, with emphasis on democratization, political representation, political economy, and religion and politics. Hagopian is author of  Reorganizing Representation in Latin America (2014, Cambridge University Press), editor of Religious Pluralism, Democracy, and the Catholic Church in Latin America (University of Notre Dame Press, 2009), co-editor (with Scott Mainwaring) of The Third Wave of Democratization in Latin America: Advances and Setbacks (Cambridge 2005), and author of Traditional Politics and Regime Change in Brazil (Cambridge University Press, 1996) and numerous journal articles and book chapters. Her current work focuses on the establishment of a social welfare regime in Brazil, and the political economy of inequality in Latin America. She previously taught at the University of Notre Dame, where she was Director of the Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies, as well as Tufts and Harvard Universities. She has also been a visiting professor at the London School of Economics and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an Associate Member of Nuffield College, Oxford.

Presented in collaboration with Weatherhead Center for International Affairs