When Kellogg Doctoral Student Affiliate Alejandro González Ruiz arrived in Georgia in November 2020 to coordinate the Organization of American States' Electoral Observation Mission, he was stepping into one of the most contentious electoral moments in recent US history. Today, that experience guides his doctoral research at the University of Notre Dame, where the third-year PhD student is investigating a crucial question: Can the autonomy of Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) serve as democracy's last line of defense against authoritarian pressure?
González Ruiz's interest in democracy runs deeper than professional experience – it's rooted in personal witness to political transformation. "I'm from Puebla. So I got to experience the government alternation from PRI to PAN for the first time, which came after Mexico's transition in 2000. I also experienced my city's first female mayor." These formative moments shaped his understanding that democracy isn't abstract, it's lived and dynamic. His later work experience at the Organization of American States (OAS) made him realize that democracy was also fragile and worth protecting: "I wanted to understand why people in power decide to weaken institutions and why sometimes people legitimize those changes." The desire to understand this led him to study and to rethink the next steps in his career – a shift that would eventually bring him to academia.
Yet González Ruiz's path wasn't traditional. “I always considered myself more as a practitioner,” he explains. "I was interested in practical work, direct contact. I wanted to feel that the work I do materializes into something practical." After earning his law degree with honors from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and completing a master's in policy management at Georgetown University, he spent years working in the Mexican government, then at the Mexican Embassy, and finally four years at the OAS conducting electoral observation.
The transition from practitioner to scholar presented unique challenges. "Despite being very interested in academia, writing, and having taught classes, the academy and especially political science have evolved in a very technical way," González Ruiz explains. "Making this mindset shift between someone who was very practical and starting to study the things I had worked on from a more formal perspective was a challenge."
But his background also provided invaluable insights and made him realize a striking gap in academic discussions: “Conversations about democratic backsliding have deepened our understanding of issues such as executive overreach and political polarization. While elections have also been part of this debate – especially regarding efforts to influence their outcomes – the role of electoral management bodies remains a key aspect that deserves greater attention.”
This extensive fieldwork sparked his academic mission and now serves as the foundation for his research at Notre Dame, where he is currently a student in the Department of Political Science, specializing in electoral administration, contested elections, and democratic backsliding. He is also a recipient of a Democracy Catalyst grant from the Democracy Initiative. His research explores how the autonomy of EMBs affects democratic resilience in the aftermath of disputed presidential elections. Using a mixed-methods approach, he analyzes legal frameworks, institutional decisions, and political dynamics to gain a deeper understanding of how law and institutions influence democratic outcomes. His research has gained urgent relevance as democracies worldwide face unprecedented backsliding.
González Ruiz's commitment extends far beyond his theoretical contributions to academia. "I try to make everything I'm learning accessible in a digestible form for a broad audience," he says. As a regular contributor to El Universal, Mexico's leading newspaper, he shares key insights with a broad audience, serving as a bridge between Mexican and American political understanding, particularly around electoral processes and democratic institutions.
His timing has been especially crucial: he wrote extensively about U.S. electoral systems during the contentious 2020 election period while simultaneously observing those same processes firsthand as an OAS coordinator. This unique position as someone who both observes and analyzes elections allows him to make complex political processes accessible to Mexican readers, translating academic expertise into practical insights that help audiences understand the challenges of democracy on both sides of the border.
His research promises to provide vital insights into how electoral institutions can resist authoritarian pressure. "I'm very interested in seeing how these political phenomena impact the performance of these institutions and doing solid research relevant to political science. And eventually, this research can help generate policy recommendations so these institutions can improve their work and resist any attempt at control by a regime.”
As González Ruiz continues his doctoral studies at Notre Dame, his research promises to provide vital insights to the global conversation about democratic resilience."It's an aspiration, a very big one in the long term, but I hope it can be useful. Beyond academia, it can also serve the institutions." With his unique combination of field experience, interdisciplinary lens, and scholarly rigor, he represents a new generation of scholar-practitioners committed to defending democratic institutions—a mission that resonates from South Bend to Mexico.