Sidore Lecture Series

Transnational Gangs, the State, and Fault Lines of Central American Political Transitions

Jose Miguel Cruz

Visiting Assistant Professor 

Department of Politics and International Relations 

Florida International University

Friday, February 22, 4:00pm MUB Theater II

Evaluating Security Strategies in Honduras and Mexico 

Mark Ungar 

Professor of POlitical Science

Brooklyn College and Gruduate Center

City University of New York

Monday, April 15, 4:00pm MUB Theater II

The War against Drugs in the U.S.: Fiscal and Racial Consequences

Jon Hurwitz, University of Pittsburgh

Thursday, September 27, 4:00pm MUB Theater II

Jon Hurwitz is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh.  For the past two decades, he has studied American public opinion on racial issues, paying particular attention to racial stereotyping and how individuals’ stereotypes of the other race affect their attitudes toward various policies such as crime control, welfare, and affirmative action. His work has been published in numerous political science journals.  His most recent book, Justice in America: The Separate Realities of Blacks and Whites, received the Robert Lane Award for the best book published in political psychology in 2010.

It Really Does Take a Village:  León’s Holistic Approach to Combatting Drugs and Violence

Braulio Espinoza, National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, León

Thursday, October 18, 4:00pm MUB Theater II

Braulio Espinoza is Titular Profesor at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua (UNAN-León) and has written three books on justice reform in Nicaragua, as well as numerous articles and essays.  True to his community-engagement model, Espinoza is very active in civil society, promoting dialogue between police and the communities they protect, and designing police-community partnerships to reduce crime and public perceptions of insecurity.  His programs in León have served as a model for the rest of the country, and he has worked with the National Police to expand his community policing model to other cities and rural areas of Nicaragua.

Mexico’s Drug Wars

Jon Hiskey, Vanderbilt University

Thursday, November 1, 4:00pm MUB Theater II

Jon Hiskey is Associate Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University.  His research examines the development consequences of Latin America's uneven political and economic transitions over the past thirty years, with a particular interest in Mexico. Prof. Hiskey has also studied the political implications of migration for sending communities across Latin America, particularly amidst the current crime wave caused by the drug war.  His work has appeared in the top academic journals in political science, as well as in interdisciplinary journals in Mexico.

The Dog that Doesn’t Bark:  Nicaragua’s Resilience to Crime and the Drug Trade

Francisco Bautista Lara, Nicaraguan Author and Public Security Expert

Thursday, November 15, 4:00pm MUB Theater II

Francisco Bautista Lara joined the Nicaraguan revolution to overthrow the Somoza dictatorship, and after the revolution succeeded, he helped to found a new national police force.  As a poet and economist, Bautista Lara says in the beginning he did not know much about policing or public administration, but he knew that he wanted to create a police force that could never again repress his people.  This guiding principle helped him to transform policing practices in Nicaragua, and he has gone on to serve as an international consultant to police departments throughout Latin America, as well as to international organizations like the United Nations and World Bank.  In addition to numerous essays and articles, Bautista Lara has authored seven books.  Some of these books, such as  his 2004 Police, Citizen Security, and Violence in Nicaragua, focus on contemporary policing practices and the increasing problem of crime.  Other books have garnered acclaim in literary circles, such as his 2011 Footprints of Autumn, and established him as an acclaimed author in Nicaragua.