Department of Political Science MSC05 3070 Albuquerque, NM 87131 Phone: (505) 489-6756 Fax: (505) 277-2821 wolff@unm.edu Academic Postings Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science (August 2014 present) Education Ph.D., Political Science, May 2014 Fields: Comparative Politics, International Relations Dissertation: Criminal Authorities and the State: Gangs, Organized Crime, and Police in Brazil (received distinction) Committee: William Stanley (chair), Kathryn Hochstetler, Richard Wood and Mark Peceny M.A., Political Science, May 2009 Fields: Comparative Politics and International Relations B.A., University Studies, December 2002 Peer-Reviewed Publications Competing for Legitimacy: Drug Traffickers and the State in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro and Recife. Latin American Politics and Society. Vol. 57, No. 2, Summer 2015 Pacification and Pacts for Life: The Logics of Criminal Violence and Public Security in Brazil, Policing and Society, Fall 2015. Works in Progress All Quiet in Ciudad Juarez: Explaining Homicide Fluctuation in Ciudad Juarez. Under Review. Criminal Police: Death Squads and Militias in Contemporary Brazil. Editing for Review. Criminal Authorities and the State: Gangs, Organized Crime, and Police in Brazil. Book Project Underway.
Academic Presentations Pacifying the Slum: Police and Gangs in Rio de Janeiro. CNM-UNM Latin American Studies Speaker Series. October 21, 2015. All Quiet in Ciudad Juarez: Explaining Homicide Fluctuation in Ciudad Juarez, Latin American Studies Association, San Juan, PR, 2015. Criminal Police: Death Squads and Militias in Contemporary Brazil, Latin American Studies Association, Chicago, IL. 2014. A New Breed of Police: A Comparative Review of Public Security Initiatives in Brazil, Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies, Durango, CO. 2014 Competing for Legitimacy: Drug Traffickers and the State in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro and Recife LASA Congress, Washington DC, 2013. Legitimacy and Opportunities in Criminal Organization: Parallel Authority Structures in Rio de Janeiro and Recife, Conference Paper: Intellectual Intersections Conference, NAU, Flagstaff, AZ, 2011. The Parallels of Drug Trafficking and Insurgency: Rio de Janeiro and the Fate of the Latin American Metropolis, Conference Paper, Rocky Mountain Latin American Studies Conference, Santa Fe, NM 2009. Dissertation Abstract Drug gangs and organized criminal groups rarely evolve into structured authorities governing their resident communities. Where this occurs, however, they may effectively replace the state in its most basic functions, and consequently exclude subject populations from the rights and protections supposedly guaranteed by the state. Employing qualitative research methods, this study compares criminal development and state public security policies in Rio de Janeiro and Recife, Brazil. The research is primarily concerned with the development of criminal authority structures, and asks when, where, why, and how they develop. Arguing that the extant literature on organized crime fails to adequately explain this phenomenon particularly in the case of drug trafficking gangs I draw from the civil wars literature to theoretically explain the rise of nonstate authority structures. The parallels are compelling. In Rio de Janeiro, concentrated illicit wealth created by the cocaine boom in the 1980s attracted an international arms market that helped drug gangs dominate larger territories (i.e. opportunities), while indiscriminate and lethally violent state repression pushed non-criminal publics into a de facto alliance with drug traffickers (i.e. grievance). In this context gangs and
later, militias developed clear and structured governing functions. Other factors, such as inhibiting geography, also contributed to this authoritative duality. In Recife, by contrast, drug gangs have remained small, disorganized, and unengaged in local political structures. A smaller drug market, flat and vehicle-accessible slums, and a comparatively much less violent police force help to explain the failure of gangs and other criminal groups to develop broader authoritative functions. Field research for this study was conducted between 2009 and 2012, funded primarily by the Drugs, Security, and Democracy Fellowship of the Social Science Research Council. Awards and Fellowships LAII PhD Fellowship 2013-2014 LAII PhD Fellowship 2012-2013 Drugs, Security, and Democracy Fellowship, 2011-2012 (OSF and SSRC) Field Research Grant Latin American Studies Institute, University of New, Spring 2009. FIPSE Scholarship, University of Texas, 2009 BRASA (Brazilian Studies Association) research scholarship, 2008 New Scholars Award, 2006-2007 Teaching and Academic Work Experience 2014 Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science 2008 2014 Instructor, Department of Political Science Introduction to International Politics (POLS 240) Introduction to Comparative Politics (POLS 220) Gangs, Organized Crime, and the State in the Americas (POLS 320/SOC 398) 2012 Instituto Locus (Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil) Guest Lecturer A Comparative Analysis of Criminal Violence (in Portuguese) 2007-2011 Graduate Research Assistant Worked under Professors William Stanley and Gabriel Sanchez 2007 2008
Teaching Assistant, Department of Political Science Introduction to the Political World (POLS 110) Introduction to Comparative Politics (POLS 220) 2005 2006 Catholic Charities of Central New Instructor GED Prep Courses (in Spanish) Other Professional Experience 2005 2011 Spanish/English interpreter and translator (sole proprietorship) 2010 Group Leader, Experiment in International Learning, Spain Program 2005 2006 Case Manager at Enlace Comunitario (assisting Spanish speaking victims of domestic violence) 2003 2004 Legal Assistant at Catholic Charities VAWA program 2000 2001 Human Rights Observer, Global Exchange Program Professional Service and Advisement Reviewer, Journal of Latin American Studies, Fall 2014 Bachelor s Honors Advisement - Udell Calzadillas, thesis on the construction of identity among bi-national Dreamers in and the US. 2015. - Wesley Hill, thesis on the spread of civil wars in Africa. 2015. Photography and the Written Word (blogs and other publications) War and Peace in Ciudad Juarez, ECPR-Standing Group on Organized Crime. Vol. 12, issue 3. October 2015. The Rio-Recife Blog Albuquerque Bus Stops photowolff.tumblr.com albuquerquebusstops.com Notes from the US-Mexican Border. Limon, Vol. 24, no. 3, Spring 2009.
Languages English (native) Spanish (fluent) Portuguese (fluent) French (basic) Professional References William Stanley Chair, Department of Political Science wstanley@unm.edu (505) 277-5218 Kathryn Hochstetler Balsillie School of International Affairs University of Waterloo hochstet@uwaterloo.ca (266) 772-3096 Mark Peceny Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences markpec@unm.edu (505) 277-7381 Richard Wood Department of Sociology rlwood@unm.edu (505) 277-1117