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Steven Levitsky Named Professor of Government at Harvard
Cambridge, Mass. - May 2, 2008 - Political scientist Steven Levitsky, a leading scholar of Latin American politics and government, has been appointed professor of government in Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, effective Jan. 1, 2008.
Levitsky, 40, was previously John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard, where he has been on the faculty since 2000.
"Professor Levitsky has demonstrated consistent excellence in research and teaching," says David Cutler, divisional dean for the social sciences at Harvard. "He has made significant and lasting contributions to his profession, to the Department of Government, and to the Harvard community. He has been extraordinarily effective - and popular - in teaching both undergraduate and graduate students. We are very excited to welcome him as a tenured member of our faculty."
A 2004 recipient of Harvard's Roslyn Abramson Award for excellence and sensitivity in teaching, Levitsky has studied the intersection of democracy, regime transitions, and political parties. His work has shed light on how parties' informal policies and practices enable or inhibit political change. He has shown how the flexibility engendered by these informal practices has made some political parties, such as Argentina's Peronist Partido Justicialista, far more durable and resilient than parties characterized by strong internal structures, such as Accion Democratica in Venezuela.
Levitsky has authored or edited three books while on the Harvard faculty: Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America: Argentine Peronism in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2003), Argentine Democracy: The Politics of Institutional Weakness (Penn State University Press, 2005), and Informal Institutions and Democracy: Lessons from Latin America (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006).
A fourth book, Competitive Authoritarianism: The Origins and Evolution of Hybrid Regimes in the Post-Cold War Era, co-authored with Lucan A. Way, is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press. In this book, Levitsky and Way look at political regimes around the world that hold competitive elections, but in which the political playing field is highly uneven. They argue that the number of "competitive authoritarian" regimes has exploded during the post-Cold War period, increasing from six in 1985 to 35 a decade later. Examining whether such regimes will tend to evolve in a democratic or an authoritarian direction over time, Levitsky and Way show that extensive linkage to Western democracies is positive correlated with democratic transitions, and that where ties to the West are weak, strong state and party organizations contribute to authoritarian stability.
Levitsky holds a B.A. in political science from Stanford University, awarded in 1990, and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California at Berkeley, awarded in 1999. He was a visiting fellow at the University of Notre Dame in 1999 before joining Harvard as an assistant professor of government in 2000. He was named John L. Loeb Associate Professor in 2004.
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