Guillermo O'Donnell and the Study of Democracy

(en español)

Click here for tributes to Guillermo O'Donnell.

Click here for preliminary conference schedule.

Academic Conference

GuillermoMonday, March 26 - 9:00am - 5:00pm
Tuesday, March 27 - 9:00am - 12:30pm
Fundación OSDE auditorium
Leandro N. Alem 1067
Buenos Aires

The Kellogg Institute for International Studies will celebrate the immense, forward-looking legacy of its founding academic director, the eminent political scientist Guillermo O’Donnell (1936–2011), with an academic conference focusing on his many contributions to democratization studies and his active engagement in the real world of politics in Latin America.

Convened in O’Donnell’s hometown of Buenos Aires in collaboration with institutional partners in Argentina and the US, the conference will bring together many of the most distinguished scholars in Latin American politics and democratization studies. Speakers will focus on five themes of study in which O'Donnell made pivotal intellectual contributions and offer reflections on his approach to studying politics.

O’Donnell was deeply committed to improving the workings of democracy, the lives of citizens, and the relationship between citizens and their government. Conference participants will honor this normative focus by connecting problems of contemporary relevance to O’Donnell’s seminal work.

An edited volume of articles drawn from the conference is planned.

Conference Organizers: Scott Mainwaring (University of Notre Dame), Marcelo Leiras (Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires), and Daniel Brinks (University of Texas, Austin)

Celebratory Tribute

March 27, 2012  6:00pm
Legislatura de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires
Salon Dorado
Av. Julio A. Roca 575

Following the conference, a memorial tribute and celebratory reception will honor Guillermo O’Donnell’s life and work. It will also mark the 30th anniversary of Notre Dame’s Kellogg Institute of International Studies, which he was instrumental in establishing and which carries on his legacy in its research and teaching.

Among those expected to attend will be many of the most significant figures in the study and practice of democracy and human development in the region, Notre Dame alumni, and friends of Guillermo O’Donnell and the Kellogg Institute from near and far.

Presented by the Kellogg Institute for International Studies

Cosponsors: Universidad de San Andrés, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Sociedad Argentina de Análisis Político (SAAP), and the Latin American Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC

With generous financial support from the Ford Foundation, Santiago Office, and the Fundación OSDE