Register to attend this event here. This event will be in English with Spanish interpretation.
This panel will discuss electoral dynamics in Latin America and how centrists fare in today's political arena. Attendees will hear from two experienced panelists who have served in their respective city and/or country's governments.
Speaker: Horacio Rodriguez Larreta, 2023 Presidential Candidate with an agenda based on development, job creation dialogue and consensus. Claudia López, Former Mayor of Bogotá; Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow ALI - 2024.
Moderator: Steven Levitsky, Professor of Government, Harvard University; Director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.
Presented in collaboration with the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.
Biographies
Horacio Rodríguez Larreta (Mayor of Buenos Aires, 2015-2023)
Horacio Rodriguez Larreta was born in 1965 in the city of Buenos Aires.He holds a BA in Economics from Universidad de Buenos Aires and a MBA from Harvard University. Then, he returned to Argentina to pursue a career in politics.
He was in charge of the Social Security System, and of Arg IRS. In 2002 he founded the PRO Party, with Mauricio Macri. He was the Chief of Cabinet of the City when Macri was Mayor (2007-2015).
In 2015 was elected Mayor of Buenos Aires. Under his leadership, the city underwent a remarkable transformation in terms of social integration, transport infrastructure, education, and security. He was reelected in 2019 with a record 56% of the vote, becoming the first Mayor in the history to win in the first round.
During a second term marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, he worked with other Argentine and internacional cities to confront the health crisis. The City’s evidence-based, comprehensive strategy to flatten the curve, care for citizens and strengthen the health system was internationally recognized, and paved the way to a strong post-pandemic recovery.
In 2023, he ran as a presidential candidate with an agenda based on development, job creation, dialogue, and consensus.
Claudia López, Former Mayor of Bogotá; Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow ALI - 2024
Claudia López has 30 years dedicated to fostering democratic governance, sustainable development, and transparent public management, during which she has shaped political, economic, and social landscapes in Colombia. As Bogota’s first female Mayor, her tenure is marked by a strong commitment to social equity and justice, women’s rights and environmental sustainability. Previously, as a Senator, Lopez was renowned for her tenacity and capacity for collective action, especially in leading impactful anticorruption campaigns. Before her political ascent, she excelled in academia as a researcher and holds a Ph.D. in political science from Northwestern University. She is currently an Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow at Harvard University.
Steven Levitsky, Professor of Government, Harvard University; Director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.
Steven Levitsky is David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Government, Director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard. He is also a Senior Democracy Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Senior Fellow at the Kettering Foundation. His research focuses on democracy and authoritarianism, political parties, weak and informal institutions, and most recently, the crisis of democracy in the United States. He and Daniel Ziblatt are authors of How Democracies Die, which was a New York Times best-seller and was published in 30 languages, and Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point. Levitsky has written or edited 11 other books, including Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America: Argentine Peronism in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge University Press 2003), Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War (with Lucan Way) (Cambridge University Press, 2010), and Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism (with Lucan Way) (Princeton University Press, 2022). He and Lucan Way are currently writing a book on the sources of global democratic resilience in the 21st Century.
LOCATION:CGIS South S216, 1730 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA, 01238 STATUS:CONFIRMED DTSTART:20240924T160000Z DTEND:20240924T172000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR