#  Bio 

 



Steven Levitsky (Ph.D, University of California at Berkeley) is Associate Professor of Government and Social Studies at [Harvard University](http://www.harvard.edu/). His areas of research include political parties and party change, informal institutions and organizations, and political regimes and regime change. His primary regional interest is Latin America, with a particular focus on Argentina and Peru. He is author of [Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America: Argentine Peronism in Comparative Perspective](http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~levitsky/Books/index.html) (Cambridge University Press, 2003). He is currently writing a book on the rise of competitive authoritarian regimes in Latin America, Africa, Asia, East-Central Europe, and the former Soviet Union during the post-Cold War era. He is also co-editing a book (with Gretchen Helmke) on informal institutions in Latin America. Professor Levitsky's [courses](http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~levitsky/Courses/index.html) include Introduction to Comparative Politics (Fall semester), Comparative Politics of Latin America (Spring semester), and Democracy and Authoritarianism in Latin America (Spring semester).