As an assistant professor in
Environmental Policy, I study the politics of environmental governance within
two main policy domains: forestry activities in developing countries and climate
change mitigation strategies.
I received my Ph. D.
in Public Policy from Indiana University in 2002. My
dissertation compared the conditions for
effective local governance of natural resources among 50 municipal governments
in Bolivia. Evolving from this research is my current book writing project,
which bears the preliminary title
Central Policies and
Local Politics: The Decentralization of Natural Resource Governance in
Latin America.
This book takes a comparativist
approach to study the interplay between national level reforms and local
politics in six Latin American countries. Relying on unique survey data from
about 1400 interviews with local and national-level political actors, I analyze
the extent to which the conditions for polycentric governance help explain
variation in outcomes at the local government level.
My research has
appeared in World Development, Comparative Political Studies, PS: Political
Science and Politics, Public Administration and Development, Climate Policy,
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Sustainability, Journal of
Environment and Development, among others. I am the author of two
books. The first, The Samaritans’ Dilemma
(Oxford University Press) examines the institutional incentive structures of
development aid and is co-authored with Clark Gibson, Elinor Ostrom and Sujai
Shivakumar. My second book features my dissertation work in Bolivia, and will be
published in Spanish by Plural Editores in Bolivia (¿Cómo
Hacer Funcionar La Gestión Forestal Descentralizada?).
A third book (with Gustavo Gordillo and Frank van Laerhoven)
bearing the title Local governments and Rural Development in Latin America
is currently under review with the University of Arizona Press and Penn State
University.
Previous to my academic
career, I served as an international civil servant and consultant for the Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Bank and
non-governmental organizations in Bolivia, Costa Rica and Sweden.
