Manuel Meléndez-Sánchez is a political scientist whose research examines the roots of democratic resilience, backsliding, and breakdown with a focus on Latin America. Much of his work on these issues explores how organized crime, criminal violence, and public insecurity undermine democratic institutions.
At the Kellogg Institute, Melendez-Sanchez will work on a book project “Criminal Electioneering: How and Why Criminal Groups Influence Elections,” which explores criminal electioneering in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. He will also complete a volume co-edited with former Kellogg visiting fellow Steven Levitsky on democracy and authoritarianism in Central America.
Melendez-Sanchez’s writing has been published or is forthcoming in the Journal of Democracy and the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. His research has been supported by the American Political Science Association, the National Science Foundation, the Weiss Fund for Research in Development Economics, and the US Institute of Peace, where he was a USIP-Minerva Peace and Security Scholar in 2022-2023.
Melendez-Sanchez earned a PhD in the Department of Government at Harvard University. He also holds an AB from Harvard College and an MSc from the University of Oxford.
Academic Year 2025-2026 : Criminal Electioneering: How and Why Criminal Groups Influence Elections