Enrique Peruzzotti

I pursued my undergraduate studies in sociology at the University of Buenos Aires during the military dictatorship that ruled the country until 1983. After teaching social theory at the University of Buenos Aires for some years, I decided to pursue graduate studies in the U.S., where I obtained a Ph.D. in Sociology at the Graduate Faculty, New School for Social Research. At the time, the Graduate Faculty was actively involved with the democratic opposition in Eastern Europe and their contribution to the formation of a proto-civil society that could play a leading role towards political transformation. It was during those years when I became interested in the contribution of civil society to processes of democratization. My doctoral research focused on the problematic relationship that Argentine civil society has historically had with legal and constitutional institutions. It also dealt with processes of political learning that, as a result of the dramatic experience of state terrorism, lead to a revalorization of a constitutional form of democracy. After returning to Argentina, I continued my research on civil society by analyzing new forms of civic engagement that aimed at increasing governmental transparency and accountability. The Woodrow Wilson project follows up on this line of work, focusing on the potential, prospects, and dangers of such a politics of social accountability. At different phases of the research project, I received fellowships from Fulbright, the Tinker Foundation, and the Ford Foundation. In recent years, I have been a Visiting Fellow at Cornell University, Oxford University, the University of New Mexico, the University of London, and Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
 

Education

Licenciatura in Sociology, Universidad de Buenos Aires; Ph.D. in Sociology, The Graduate Faculty, New School for Social Research
 

Subjects

Argentina,Latin America
 

Experience

• Associate Professor, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, 1997- present
• Visiting Fulbright Scholar, Columbia University, 2002
• Visiting Lecturer, University of London, ILAS, 1998
• Visiting Scholar, Cornell University, LASP, 1995-96

Expertise

Democracy and democratization in Latin America; democratic accountability; civil society; citizenship; Argentine politics