Interviewed by Kellogg Institute PhD Fellow Benjamín García Holgado, faculty fellows Scott Mainwaring (former director of the Kellogg Institute) and Maria Rosa Olivera Williams (professor of Latin American literature) discuss their long relationship with the Kellogg Institute, what they remember of Kellogg when they joined in the 1980s, the impact that Kellogg has had on their scholarship, what distinguishes the Institute from other university institutes, and how they envision Kellogg moving forward.

Interviewed by Kellogg Institute Doctoral Affiliates Mayra Ortiz and Laura López, political scientist Guillermo Trejo discusses how weak democratic transitions can lead to the outbreak of large-scale criminal violence, focusing on Mexico. He presents the main findings of his book co-authored along with Sandra Ley, “Votes, Drugs and Violence: The Political Logic of Criminal Wars in Mexico,” which offers evidence on the partisan logics of the ‘war on drugs’ and power fragmentation’s impacts on cartels’ and state’s incentives in engaging with violence.

Interviewed by Kellogg Doctoral Affiliates Aitor Valdesogo and Juan Vargas, historian Karen Graubart, who is a Kellogg Institute faculty fellow, introduces her recently published book, "Republics of Difference: Religious and Racial Self-Governance in the Spanish Atlantic World" (Oxford University Press, 2022). The result of more than 15 years of research, this book explores the mechanisms of self-governance that racialized and/or non-Christian communities put into practice in 15th-century Seville and 16th-17th century Lima.

Interviewed by graduate students Benjamín García and Isabel Güiza-Gómez, Political Scientist Michael Coppedge discusses the foundational question of why some countries escape autocratic rule and strengthen democracy while others remain trapped. He introduces his recently co-authored book “Why Democracies Develop and Decline”, which offers evidence on democratization, democratic consolidation, and democratic backsliding, drawing on data assembled from the Varieties of Democracy Project (V-Dem)