German Institute for Global and Area Studies | Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien

German Institute for Global and Area Studies | Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien

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Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos

Co-Leader of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ad interim)

Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos

  • Short CV

    • Since 08/2023: Co-Director of the GIGA Institute of Latin American Studies (ad interim)

    • Since summer term 2021: extraordinary Professor for "Democratic Institutions in the Global South" at the University of Erfurt; project "Democratic Institutions in the Global South" at GIGA. Part of the Leibniz Programme for Women Professors

    • 08/2018 - 04/2021: Deputy equal opportunity commissioner at the GIGA

    • 05/2015 - 07/2022: Head of RP 1 "Accountability and Participation"

    • 2014 - 2015: Acting Head of GIGA’s Research Program 1 “Legitimacy and Efficiency of Political Systems”

    • 2009 - 2015: Speaker of the Research Team "The Politics of Courts and Constitutions", at GIGA’s Research Programme 1 "Legitimacy and Efficiency of Political Systems"

    • Since 2006: Researcher, GIGA Institute of Latin American Studies

    • 2001 - 2004: Project Researcher, Institut für Iberoamerika-Kunde, Hamburg

    • 2000: Visiting researcher, Universität Augsburg

    • 1993 - 1998: D.Phil. thesis in Political Science

    • Education: D.Phil in Politics, University of Oxford, St. Antony's College, U.K.; Postgraduate Programme on Social and Political History, Instituto Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Licenciatura in Political Science; Universidad del Salvador, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Current Research

    • Political institutions in Latin America

    • Presidentialism

    • Latin American congresses

    • Latin American courts

    • President-Congress relations; president-court relations

    Countries and Regions

    • Latin America

    • Argentina

    • Brazil

    Memberships

    • Journal of Politics in Latin America, Editor in chief, since 2021

    Awards

    • 2022 Jewell-Loewenberg Prize in Comparative Politics, Legislative Studies Section of the American Political Science Association, 2022
    • Founders Award 2015, American Political Science Association (APSA), 2015

    Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos

    Co-Leader of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ad interim)

    T. +49 (40) 42825-766[email protected]

    Publications

    Infographic | 04/2025

    COVID-19 and Executive Personalization in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America and the MENA Region: A Dashboard

    This dashboard examines how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced executive personalization in 32 countries. Each bubble represents a country and its number of personalization events. Select one or two, then use the buttons to explore the events and their underlying mechanisms.

    Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos

    Dr. David Kuehn

    Prof. Dr. Thomas Richter

    Dr. Martin Acheampong

    Andrea Emilia Arellano Castillo

    Eduardo Valencia

    Policy Paper | 08/2024

    Going Public: A Strategy to Increase Trust and to Protect Independence

    Mechanisms of social participation help courts to take more inclusive decisions,
    gain more trust from the population as well as the support they need in cases of political attacks against their independence and power.

    Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos

    Co-Leader of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ad interim)

    Dr. Cordula Tibi Weber

    GIGA Working Papers | 01/2024

    Personnel, Institutions, and Power: Revisiting the Concept of Executive Personalisation

    Evidence shows a growing trend of chief executives personalising power in autocracies and democracies. Yet, scholarly focus remains siloed according to regime type. This Working Paper presents an overarching framework on the “Personalisation of Executive Power,” identifying the involved mechanisms.

    Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos

    Dr. David Kuehn

    Prof. Dr. Thomas Richter

    Dr. Martin Acheampong

    Dr. Esther Song

    Andrea Emilia Arellano Castillo

    Desarrollo Económico | 12/2023

    El Congreso: De la Transición a La Actualidad

    The text analyzes the evolution of the Argentine National Congress after the transition to democracy in 1983. One of the main questions of the time was how President Alfonsín would govern without a solid parliamentary majority.

    Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos

    Co-Leader of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ad interim)

    Bulletin of Latin American Research | 11/2023

    Introduction to Special Section: Elections in Latin America from a Multi-Level Perspective

    Jayane Maia

    Doctoral Researcher

    Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos

    Co-Leader of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ad interim)

    Research Projects

    Research Project | 15/01/2022 - 14/12/2024

    COVID-19 and Executive Personalization in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America and the MENA Region

    In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, political leaders reacted by containment measures that, next to combating the spread of the pandemic, also presented a window of opportunity to bolster executives’ personal grasp on power. Personalization of power has been particularly worrying in the Global South where constraints on the chief executives were often already weak prior to the pandemic. This project assesses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the personalization of executive power in 36 countries of the Global South.
    DFG, 2021-2024

    Research Project | 01/05/2021 - 30/04/2026

    Democratic Institutions in the Global South (DEMINGS)

    This project contributes new knowledge on the functioning of democratic institutions in the Global South, their (in)efficacy to constrain powerful executives, and the effects of particular institutions on both democratic quality and regime stability. The focus is on countries with presidential constitutions, i.e., those with directly elected presidents, an institutional choice that extended worldwide in the last decades.
    Leibniz Competition, 2021-2026

    Research Project | 01/01/2019 - 31/12/2021

    Presidents Who Die Too Soon and Presidents Who Live Too Long. Term Limits and Succession in Presidential and Semi-Presidential Regimes

    This cooperation project researches two important rules defining the presidential mandates, i.e. presidential term limits and succession rules, and their intersection in the presidential regimes of Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa.
    DAAD/PPP, 2019-2021

    Research Project | 01/12/2018 - 30/06/2022

    Latin American Courts Going Public: Institutional Innovations for Social Participation in the Judicial Decision-Making Process

    Since two decades, constitutional and supreme courts in Latin America increasingly have been engaging with the public: for instance, they include the perspectives of civil society through public hearings or extensively use social media to inform about their work. This new court behavior stands in stark contrast to the traditional image of the judges as distant from the people and it could potentially have strong effects on the role of courts in the political system and the quality of democracy. This project is the first to investigate this phenomenon in a comparative perspective for all democratic Latin American countries.
    DFG, 2018-2022

    Media Contributions

    Interview | 27/03/2025

    Protagonistas de la ciencia política # 6 - Mariana Llanos

    This interview was conducted by students of political science at the University of Buenos Aires, within the framework of the series Protagonists of Political Science that explores the careers of outstanding personalities linked to the discipline. 

    Deutsche Welle | Quote | 25/04/2024

    Proteste in Argentinien: Wie angezählt ist Präsident Milei?

    Hunderttausende haben gegen den radikalen Sparkurs von Javier Milei protestiert. Der ultraliberale Präsident will Argentiniens Haushalt um jeden Preis sanieren. Beim Bildungssektor hat er womöglich den Bogen überspannt.

    Latinoamerica 21 | Article | 21/03/2024

    Perú vuelve a tener un congreso bicameral

    Perú retorna a la bicameralidad -un poder legislativo de dos cámaras- con temas pendientes y con la estabilidad política dependiendo más de sus políticos que de la reforma. 

    Lectures

    Conference | 03/04/2025 - 06/04/2025

    Thriving or Thwarted? Executive Personalization and Constraints amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

    Annual MPSA Conference 2025, Palmer House Hilton, Chicago Organisers: Midwest Political Science Association Andrea Emilia Arellano Castillo (Speaker), Dr. Martin Acheampong (Speaker), Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos (Speaker), Prof. Dr. Thomas Richter (Speaker), Dr. David Kuehn (Speaker)

    Emilia Arellano presents the paper "Thriving or Thwarted? Executive Personalization and Constraints amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic" co-authored by her and GIGA researchers Dr. Martin Acheampong, Dr. David Kuehn, Prof. Dr Mariana Llanos, Prof. Dr. Thomas Richter.

    Andrea Emilia Arellano Castillo

    Dr. Martin Acheampong

    Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos

    Prof. Dr. Thomas Richter

    Dr. David Kuehn

    Workshop | 24/01/2025 - 26/01/2025

    Personalisierung und rechte Politik

    Die politische Rechte in Lateinamerika – 8. Hofgeismarer Lateinamerikagespräche, Evangelische Akademie Hofgeismar, Hofgeismar Organisers: Evangelische Akademie Hofgeismar Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos (Speaker)

    Analyse der Krise der Repräsentation in Lateinamerika, mit Schwerpunkt auf der Personalisierung der Wahlen und der Personalisierung der Macht und deren Folgen für die Demokratie in der Region, mit Beispielen aus Argentinien und El Salvador.

    Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos

    Co-Leader of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ad interim)

    Conference | 12/08/2024 - 15/08/2024

    Thriving or Thwarted? Examining Chief Executives and their Constraining Counterparts amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

    ECPR General Conference 2024, University College Dublin, Dublin Dr. Martin Acheampong (Speaker), Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos (Speaker), Prof. Dr. Thomas Richter (Speaker), Dr. David Kuehn (Speaker), Andrea Emilia Arellano Castillo (Speaker)

    Dr. Martin Acheampong presents the paper "The Hour of the Executive: Conceptualizing and Mapping the Personalization of Executive Power during the COVID-19 Pandemic" co-authored by him and GIGA researchers Emilia Arellano, Dr. David Kuehn, Prof. Dr Mariana Llanos, Prof. Dr. Thomas Richter.

    Dr. Martin Acheampong

    Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos

    Prof. Dr. Thomas Richter

    Dr. David Kuehn

    Andrea Emilia Arellano Castillo

    Teaching

    Teaching | University of the Republic | 2024

    Autocratización en el Sur Global

    University of the Republic Montevideo Uruguay

    Blockseminar for PhD students at the Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Teaching | University of Erfurt | 2024

    Autocratization in the Global South

    University of Erfurt Erfurt Germany

    University of Erfurt (2-hours per week)

    Teaching | University of Erfurt | 2024

    Democratic Institutions and Institutional Change. Comparative Perspectives from the Global South

    University of Erfurt Erfurt Germany

    Ma Course at the University of Erfurt, 2 hours per week.

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