Public Scholarship

Recent Public-Facing Articles

• “The War on Drugs Cannot be Won,” with Karina García-Reyes, Transform: Drug Policy Foundation, April 2026.

• “La guerra contra las drogas no puede ganarse,” with Karina García-Reyes, Revista Nexos, March 10, 2026.

• The Long Shadow of Mexico’s War Over Catholicism, with Julia Young, Americas Quarterly, April 2025

• Will Trump 2.0 Play Tougher on Nicaragua’s Dictatorship?, with Antonio Monte, Americas Quarterly, February 2025.

• Why So Many Latino Voters Supported Donald Trump, with Julia Young, The Conversation, February 2025. 

• "México elige a su primera m¿Qué significa para la violencia de género y la crisis de inseguridad del país?," con Julia Zulver, Foreign Affairs Latinoamérica, June 2024.

• "Mexico Elected its First Woman President: What Does this Mean for the Country’s Gender-Based Violence and Insecurity Crisis?," with Julia Zulver, Wilson Center Mexico Institute, June 2024. 

• “In Mexico’s Election, the Search for the Missing Should Be Front and Center,” with Julia Zulver, Americas Quarterly, May 2024.  

• “Violence Against Women Is at the Center of Mexico’s Security Crisis,” Americas Quarterly, April 2024. https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/violence-against-women-is-at-the-center-of-mexicos-security-crisis/

• “Der coolste Diktator der Welt?,” Der Pragmaticus, January 2024.https://www.derpragmaticus.com/r/el-salvador-coolste-diktator

• "Beyond Collateral Damage: Femicides, Disappearances, and New Trends in Gender-Based Violence in Mexico," Woodrow Wilson Center, Mexico Institute Insights, June 27, 2023.

• "The Many, Varied Violences Behind the Central American Exodus," with Nathaniel Morris, IPI Global Observatory, November 2022.

• "El éxodo centroamericano evidencia el fracaso de la política migratoria de Estados Unidos," with Nathaniel Morris, Open Democracy, November 2022. 

• "The Many Violence(s) Behind the Central American Exodus" Introduction to the Violence and Migration in Central America, Noria Series, edited with Nathaniel Morris  

• “The Politics of Criminal Violence in Mexico and Northern Central America,” Woodrow Wilson Center, Mexico Institute Insights, December 2021.

• “Ni Una Menos, Not One Less: Femicides and Gender-Based Violence in Mexico and Northern Central America,” Woodrow Wilson Center, Latin American Program Insights, December 2021.

• “Mexico’s recent election violence can’t be blamed on organized crime gangs alone, Open Democracy,”June 2021.

• “Impunity and Police Brutality Characterize Rise in Femicides in Mexico,” International Peace Institute Global Observatory, April 2021.

• “Security & Violence Against Women in Mexico,” with Alejandra Zapata Hojel, Wilson Memo, Wilson Center Congressional Relations, March 2021.

• “Beyond the War on Drugs,” Mexico Violence Resource Project- Global Initiative Against Organized Crime, February 2021.

• “Putting Citizens’ Security First: Towards a New Chapter in U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation,” Woodrow Wilson Center, Mexico Institute Insights, January 2021.

• “Violencia en Centroamérica: Crónica de una crisis anunciada,” Foreign Affairs Latinoamérica, January 2020.

• “Nicaragua’s Uprising: From Dictatorship, to Revolution, to Dictatorship,” International Peace Institute Global Observatory, August 2018.

• “Mexico in the Face of Trump’s America: Why Nationalism is Not the Answer,” Open Democracy, April 2017.

• “The Politics of Femicide in Latin America,” with María Huesca, Hemisphere,Vol. 26, Issue 1, 2017.

• “La otra cara de la violencia: mujeres y delincuencia organizada en México y Centroamérica”, Foreign Affairs Latinoamérica, January 2014.

•  “Taking Justice Into Their Own Hands’: Insecurity and the Lynching of Criminals in Latin America,” ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America, January 2012.

Specialized Reports

• “Co-constructing Human Security in Mexico: Methodology and Action Plan from the Communities Towards the State” (co-authored), Research project funded by CONACYT and Newton Fund, January 2019.

• “From War-Making to Peacebuilding? Opportunities and Pitfalls of an Integral Approach to Armed Social Violence in Mexico,” in Barbara Unger, Véronique Dudouet, Matteo Dressler and Beatrix Austin (eds.) “Undeclared Wars” – Exploring a Peacebuilding Approach to Armed Social Violence,” Berghof Handbook Dialogue Series No. 12. Berlin, September 2016.

•  “Drugs, Gangs and Vigilantes: How to Tackle the New Breeds of Mexican Armed Violence,” Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Center (NOREF), Report Series on Non-conventional armed violence, December 8, 2014.  

• Regional Human Development Report 2013-2014, Citizen Security with a Human Face:  Evidence and Proposals for Latin America, (co-authored), published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).