CFR Welcomes Steven Levitsky as a Senior Fellow for Democracy

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is pleased to welcome Steven Levitsky as a senior fellow for democracy. At CFR, Levitsky will write for the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Project on the Future of Democracy on democracy-oriented issues and will hold roundtables on topics related to the future of democracy. 

Levitsky is the David Rockefeller professor of Latin American studies, professor of government, and director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University.

His research focuses on democratization and authoritarianism, political parties, and weak and informal institutions, with a focus on Latin America.

“I am delighted to welcome Steve to the Council. As a preeminent political scientist in the comparative study of democracy and authoritarian governments worldwide, he has expertise on timely questions related to current affairs,” said CFR President Michael Froman. “Steve’s writings, including in Foreign Affairs, have made him a central figure in contemporary debates regarding the health of democracy in the United States and around the world.”

Levitsky is coauthor (with Daniel Ziblatt) of How Democracies Die (2018), which was a New York Times best seller and was published in thirty languages, and Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point (2023). He has written or edited eleven other books, including Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America: Argentine Peronism in Comparative Perspective (2003), Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War (with Lucan Way; 2010), and Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism (with Lucan Way; 2022). He and Lucan Way are currently working on a book on democratic resilience across the world.

Levitsky received a BA in political science from Stanford University and a PhD in political science from the University of California, Berkeley.