Manuel Balán
Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science at McGill University
I obtained my PhD in Political Science from the University of Texas at Austin in 2011. I have been a professor at McGill since 2011 and served as Director of the Institute for the Study of International Development (ISID) at McGill University from until 2023.
My research is in the field of comparative politics. It covers the issues of corruption and development, on political competition, on the relationship between the media and politics, anti-corruption and transparency policies as well as on democracy and the rule of law. My recent work shows that corruption scandals are politically motivated, that the judicial prosecution of corruption isn’t always an effective anti-corruption tool, that media polarization has increased in Latin America and that it depends on the dynamics of media ownership, and that the legacies of the Left Turn in Latin America resist easy interpretations as being either positive or negative.
Languages: Spanish, English, French
Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science at McGill University
Main research areas
- Corruption and anti-corruption policies in Latin America
- Media polarization in Latin America
- The judicialization of politics
Recent research projects
Poursuites pour corruption contre d’anciens dirigeants en Amérique latine
Médias et polarisation partisane dans les Amériques
La corruption sous les gouvernements de la vague rose en Amérique latine
Most recent publications
Palifka, B. J., & Balán, M. (2024). Good news? Latin American corruption scandals and the COVID-19 pandemic. In Public Sector Performance, Corruption and State Capture in a Globalized World (pp. 124-146). Routledge.
Panizza, F. (2024). Manuel Balán and Françoise Montambeault (eds.), Legacies of the Left Turn in Latin America: The Promise of Inclusive Citizenship University of Notre Dame Press, 2020, pp. xxvii+ 443. Journal of Latin American Studies, 56(1), 163-165.
Balan, M. (2021). Promise, invisibility, politicization: The waving path of the anti-corruption office in Argentina 1. In The Politics of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Latin America (pp. 51-70). Routledge.
Balan, M. (2020) Today’s Allies, Tomorrow’s Enemies? The Political Dynamics of Corruption Scandals in Latin America. University of Notre Dame Press.
Balan, M. (2019) What’s Left? The Promise and Reality of Inclusive Citizenship in Latin America. (edited with Françoise Montambeault). University of Notre Dame Press.
Website