Rachel A. Schwartz

Rachel A. Schwartz is an Assistant Professor of International and Area Studies at the University of Oklahoma, affiliated with the David L. Boren College of International Studies. During Spring 2025, she serves as a visiting fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Her research focuses on post-conflict institutional legacies, corruption, and human rights in Central America, with a regional specialization in Guatemala and Nicaragua.

She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison (2019) and completed postdoctoral fellowships at Tulane University’s Center for Inter-American Policy and Research (2019-2020). Her work bridges academia and policy, contributing to outlets like The New York Times and advising asylum processes for Central American migrants.

Dr. Schwartz’s 2023 book Undermining the State from Within examines how civil war dynamics reshape state institutions, winning LASA’s 2023 Donna Lee Van Cott Award. Her research explores anti-corruption mechanisms, democratic backsliding, and the intersection of conflict legacies with contemporary governance challenges.

Her recent articles analyze Guatemala’s democratic resilience amid authoritarian pressures, methodological innovations in comparative politics, and the impact of wartime institutions on postwar governance. She collaborates with Vanderbilt University’s Latin American Public Opinion Project and co-organizes the Central American Politics Consortium.