GIGA Expert Mariana Llanos Appointed to Professorship at the University of Erfurt

GIGA scholar Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos is set to begin an extraordinary professorship for “Democratic Institutions in the Global South” at the Faculty of Economics, Law and Social Sciences of the University of Erfurt in summer 2021. Her teaching activities in Erfurt intersect with her ongoing research project of the same name, for which she is receiving funding from the Leibniz Association. 

The Latin America expert’s new position interlinks the GIGA with this faculty, which has blended legal, social and economic sciences into a single programme since 2000. Aside from their interdisciplinary natures, another commonality between the GIGA and the faculty is their international profiles. In her first seminar, Prof. Llanos will discuss trends of democratisation and autocratisation in the Global South. A course at the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy on the influence of political institutions on policy design is planned for 2022. 

Political scientist Mariana Llanos received her doctorate from St. Antony’s College of the University of Oxford with a dissertation entitled “Privatization and Democracy in Argentina.” She has been working as a researcher at the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies since 2006, taking over leadership of the GIGA Research Programme “Accountability and Participation” six years ago. In her research she compares and contrasts political institutions within Latin America, with a particular focus on presidencies.