Douglas Block is CPOST’s senior Latin America research analyst. He studies the relationship between politics and public security policies in Latin America. His dissertation examines the relationship between gubernatorial elections and public security policies in Brazil. Using municipal level voting and violence data, together with more than 140 interviews with politicians and public security officials, he argues that Brazilian governors respond to security problems based on how these problems affect their electoral success and the popularity of certain policies, rather than ideological beliefs. At CPOST, he manages a portfolio of projects examining the rise and spread of prison gangs in Latin America.

Dr. Block received a MA in political science and a graduate certificate in intelligence and national security from the University of Texas at El Paso. He also holds a BA in Latin American studies and political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has lived and conducted fieldwork in Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, and Brazil.