Carlos H. Acuña, professor of political science at the Universidad Nacional de San Martín (Argentina), passed away in Buenos Aires on 7 August 2025. Acuña (PhD, University of Chicago) was a towering figure in the development of political science and public administration in Argentina and Latin America more broadly. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Kellogg Institute between September 1994 and July 1995. He also participated in academic events at Kellogg in 1983, 1985, 1991, and 1995. He was the rare type of academic who excelled simultaneously in three areas (scholarship, institution building, and teaching and mentoring), always demonstrating an incredible work ethic and dedication.
He reflected the mission of the Kellogg Institute throughout his life’s work, exhibiting a deep commitment to rigorously studying the pressing problems of his time. Over the course of four decades, he penned numerous articles and book chapters that have remained mandatory readings for students and researchers of political regimes, political economy, civil–military relations, transitional justice, and public administration. In the 1980s and 1990s, his research focused on the Argentine case—always in dialogue with other Latin American experiences—examining the transition to democracy, the shift in the industrial bourgeoisie’s preferences toward supporting democracy, the subordination of the armed forces to civilian control, the political economy of the pro-market reforms of the 1990s, and the institutional reforms of that decade in Argentina. From the late 1990s until his death, his agenda focused on public policy and public administration, encompassing health policy, state reform, social policy, and policies affecting children and individuals with disabilities, among others.
In addition to his scholarship, Carlos helped shape the institutional makeup of various academic programs. As a professor at the Universidad de San Andrés in the late 1990s, he designed and led a highly innovative Master’s program in Public Administration and Public Policy for fifteen years. Unlike other programs in Argentina at the time, it emphasized an interdisciplinary approach while maintaining the relative autonomy of political science from different disciplines, such as economics or sociology. Hundreds of public officials and politicians graduated from this program, benefiting from access to many of the country’s leading professors in this field. More recently, he created and directed the PhD in Public Administration and Public Policy at the Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM), bringing together methodological and theoretical perspectives from both political science and organizational studies.
His many students will also remember Carlos for his dedication to teaching and mentoring. Thousands of students at the Universidad de San Andrés took his highly regarded course “The Political Phenomenon.” Most of the students were in their first year and were impressed by the clarity of his ideas, the precision of his reasoning, and his commanding presence in the classroom. Outside the classroom, Carlos mentored generations of political scientists and public servants, both formally and informally. His generosity had no limits: he was always ready to offer thoughtful advice on life choices, work decisions, professional changes, or even personal matters. He was also known for his thoroughness and for the seriousness with which he took his role as director of undergraduate honors theses, master’s dissertations, and PhD dissertations.
On a personal note, I was fortunate to have Carlos as my advisor for my honors thesis at San Andrés in 2010–2011. I still recall the detailed written and oral feedback he provided on every aspect of my work—punctuation, framing, bibliography, methodology, and the clarity of the argument, among others. We spent many hours in his office discussing multiple drafts of the document. At that time, he was already a senior scholar with numerous international and national commitments and had no obligation to direct my thesis. That he did so speaks to his generosity and his dedication to mentoring students. I know that my experience is shared by many of his former students. Although he left us too soon, we can at least hold on to the memory of a great scholar, institution builder, and mentor who will continue to serve as a role model. Muchas gracias por todo, Carlos.