Guillermo O'Donnell, the foremost Latin American political scientist of the last 50 years and one of the world's leading scholars of comparative politics, passed away this week in his native Argentina.

Citizen insecurity poses a rising challenge to democratic governance and the exercise of citizenship throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Transnational organized crime, gang violence, drug production and trafficking, and other sources of insecurity continue to threaten the quality of democracy and rule of law in the region.

As Latin American countries find new options for political and economic insertion in a globalized world, patterns of international relations and U.S.-Latin American relations are changing. The Program is particularly focused on understanding of the region’s new commercial and political relationships with China, India, and other Asian countries.