María Ignacia Curiel

María Ignacia Curiel is a Research Scholar at Stanford University's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) within the Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies. She also serves as Research Manager of the CDDRL Democracy Action Lab and is a Research Affiliate of the Poverty, Violence, and Governance Lab (2024-25). Previously, she was a CDDRL Postdoctoral Fellow (2023-24). Her academic journey includes earning a Ph.D. in Political Science from New York University's Department of Politics, where she also completed dual B.A. degrees in Economics and Political Science.

Dr. Curiel's research focuses on political solutions to violent conflict, democratic participation, and peacebuilding. She specializes in studying the electoral participation of parties with violent origins, particularly examining Colombia's Comunes party formed by the former FARC guerrilla. Her work combines experimental, observational, and qualitative methods, including fieldwork with ex-combatants and analysis of cross-national data on 120 rebel parties. She investigates how political institutions shape the mobilization of former rebel parties and the representation of groups affected by violence in Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela.

Her research has been published in the Journal of Politics and supported by the Folke Bernadotte Academy, Institute for Humane Studies, and APSA Centennial Center. Dr. Curiel has received recognition for her teaching, including NYU's Dean's Outstanding Teaching Award in 2021.

• Dean's Outstanding Teaching Award (2021)
• Folke Bernadotte Academy Research Support
• Institute for Humane Studies Fellowship
• APSA Centennial Center Research Support

Dr. Curiel maintains active engagement with policy communities, having conducted research for the United Nations University Center for Policy Research, Inter-American Development Bank, US think tanks, and Caracas-based organizations. As Research Manager of the Democracy Action Lab, she oversees research initiatives examining the relationship between democracy and various policy outcomes. Her current book project analyzes the dilemmas and consequences of negotiated political inclusion as a pathway to sustainable peace.