My current work asks a fundamental question related to the transition of insurgent groups to political parties that has only recently begun to be seriously investigated. Namely, how do we account for the success or failure of former insurgent groups as political parties? To date, my research has primarily focused on the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) in El Salvador and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unit (URNG) in Guatemala.
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
"Extended Endogenous Protection and the Evolution of Trade Rivalries: The Case of the EU-US Banana Trade Disputes" with Christina Fattore. Forthcoming in The Latin Americanist.
“Unity and Disunity in the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN)” with Alberto Martín Álvarez. Latin American Politics and Society, 54, 4 (Winter 2012): 89-118. (In process of being translated for publication in El Salvador's Realidad)
“The Legacy of Violence on Post-Civil War Elections in Central America: El Salvador.” Studies in Comparative International Development, 45, 1 (March 2010): 104-124.
"Territorial Integrity Treaties and Armed Conflict over Territory" with Paul Hensel and Ahmed Khanani. Conflict Management and Peace Science, 26 (April 2009): 120.143.
"The Transition from Armed Opposition to Electoral Opposition in Central America." Latin American Politics and Society 48, 4 (Winter 2006): 137-162.
"Corrupted Perceptions: The Effect of Corruption on Political Support in Latin American Democracies" with Damarys Canache. Latin American Politics and Society 47,3 (Fall 2005): 91-111.
Book Chapters
"Los partidos políticos en El Salvador: Una vision desde el extranjero." Scheduled to be published by the Unidad de Investigaciones sobre la Guerra Civil Salvadoreña (UIGCS) in 2013.
“Grupos armados y partidos politicos; un poco de ayuda por favor.” In La Izquierda Revolucionaria Latinoamerica, (Mexico: Universidad de Colima, 2010: 131-156), Alberto Martín Alvarez, coordinator.
"Opportunity Lost: The Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unit (URNG)." In Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding: Moving from Violence to Sustainable Peace (London: Routledge, 2009), Bruce W. Dayton and Louis Kriesberg, eds.
Other Scholarly Publications
Book Review of Space of Detention: The Making of a Transnational Gang Crisis Between Los Angeles and San Salvador." Forthcoming in The Latin Americanist.
Book Review of Insurgent Collective Action in El Salvador by Elisabeth Jean Wood. Published in Latin American Politics and Society 46,3 (Fall 2004): 144-49.
"Transiciones Guerrilleras al Sistema Politico-Electoral" in Enciclopedia Social y Politica de America Latina published by the Instituto Di Tella.
Ongoing Projects
“Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unit: The Long Collapse.” Under review.
“The Causes and Consequences of Schisms on the Electoral Performances of Former Rebel Groups.” Under review.
"Credible Commitments, Involuntary Defection, and Negotiations over Territory." with Paul R. Hensel and John Tures.
“The FMLN as Political Party, 1994-2012.” with Alberto Martín Alvarez and Christine Wade.
"Colonial Legacies and Territorial Conflict." with Paul R. Hensel. Book prospectus.
Conference Presentations
“Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unit: The Long Collapse.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, March 2011.
“The FMLN as Political Party, 1994-2009.” With Alberto Martín Alvarez. Presented at the Latin American Studies Association XXIX International Congress in Toronto, Canada, October 2010. An updated version of this paper was presented at the 44th annual meeting of the Northeastern Political Science Association, November 15-17, 2012 in Boston, Massachusetts.
"Extended Endogenous Protection and the Evolution of Trade Rivalries: The Case of the EU-US Banana Trade Disputes." with Christina Fattore. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association in New Orleans, LA, February 2010.
"Credible Commitments and Negotiations over Territory." with Paul R. Hensel and John Tures. Presented at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association in Toronto, Canada, September 2009.
"Guatemala's 2007 Elections." Presented at the Annual Conference of the International Studies Association - Northeast in Philadelphia, November 2007.
"Unity within Latin America's Former Insurgent Groups." Presented at the Latin American Studies Association XXVII International Congress in Montreal, Canada, September 2007.
“The Legacy of Violence on Post-Civil War Elections in Central America: El Salvador.” Presented at the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., August 2005.
"Leaving the Past Behind? A Study of the URNG and FMLN Transitions to Political Parties." Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association in New Orleans, LA., January 2005.
"Where Have All the Guerrillas Gone? A Study of the Transitions from Guerrilla Party to Political Party in Central America." Presented at the Latin American Studies Association XXV International Congress in Las Vegas, NV, October 2004 and the Annual Conference of the International Studies Association - South in Columbia, SC, October 2004.
"The Transition from Armed Opposition to Electoral Opposition in Central America.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, January 2004.
"Territorial Integrity Treaties, Uti Possidetis, and Armed Conflict over Territory." with Paul Hensel and Ahmed Khanani. Hensel and I presented ath the 2003 Annual Meeting of the Peace Science Society (International), Ann Arbor, MI. Hensel also presented updated version at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Montreal and the 2006 Shambaugh Conference "Building Synergies: Institutions and Cooperation in World Politics" in Iowa City.
"New Party Emergence in Central America." Presented at the Annual Conference of the International Studies Association - South in Gainesville, FL, October 2003.
"Guerrilla Politics in Latin America." Presented at the Latin American Studies Association XXIV Congress, Dallas, TX, March 2003.
"Corrupted Perceptions: The Effect of Corruption on Political Support in Latin American Democracies." with Damarys Canache. Presented at the Latin American Studies Association XXIV Congress, Dallas, TX, March 2003.
"Guerrillas and Elections: Colombia's M-19 and Venezuela's MAS." Presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association - South, October 2002.
"Who Cares? Comestic Politics and the Management of Territorial Claims." with Paul Hensel. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Assocaition in New Orleans, LA, March 2002.
"Political Corruption and Support for Democracy." Presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association - South, October 2001.
Invited Presentations
“The Causes and Consequences of Schisms on the Electoral performances of Former Rebel Groups.” Presented at Challenges of Party-Building in Latin America conference at Harvard University, November 16-17, 2012.
“Los partidos políticos en El Salvador: Una vision desde el extranjero." Presented at the “History, Society and Memories: the armed conflict on the 20th anniversary of the Peace Accords” conference sponsored by the Unit of Investigations about the Salvadoran Civil War (UIGCS) of the Universidad de El Salvador (UES) in San Salvador, El Salvador, February 15-17, 2012.
"Democracy in Post-Civil War Central America." Presented at Fairfield University in Fairfield, CT, October 2008.
"Armed Opposition Groups and Political Parties: A Little Help, Please." Presented at the International Colloquium "Intelectuales, movimientos radicales y revolucionarios en la America Contemporanea" at the Universidad de Colima in Colima, Mexico, September 2008.
“Opportunity Lost: The Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unit (URNG).” Presented at the Workshop on Constructive Transformation: Studying Cases of Political Incorporation at Syracuse University inSyracuse, NY, October 2007.
“Where Have All the Guerrillas Gone?” Presented at the University of Scranton’s Research Seminar Series, March 23, 2007.
