Jenny Pearce

Dr. Jenny Pearce is a Visiting Professor at the International Inequalities Institute (III) at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Previously, she held the position of Professor of Latin American Politics at the University of Bradford's Department of Peace Studies (1992–2016) and was a Research Professor at the LSE's Latin American and Caribbean Centre (2016–2023). She has also served as a Visiting Professor at the University of Monterrey, Mexico, and the Bolivariana University, Medellín, Colombia.

Her research focuses on participatory politics, violence and its societal impacts, human security, social change, state formation, and elites. She founded and directed the International Centre for Participation Studies (2003–2014) at the University of Bradford, emphasizing South-North learning through Latin American participatory methods to address inequality in Northern England.

Key awards include the 'Outstanding Latin Americanist' award (2015) and the Martin Diskin Prize (2023). Her recent monograph, Politics without Violence? Towards a Post Weberian Enlightenment (2020), explores theoretical and practical dimensions of non-violent political systems.

Her grants include leading the Newton/ESRC/Conacyt-funded project 'Co-Constructing Security Provision in Mexico' (2016–2018). Current research examines elites' responses to Colombia's Petro government, focusing on power dynamics and social transformation. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in Latin America since 1975, spanning Uruguay, Central America, Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, and Venezuela.