Kenneth Roberts

Kenneth Roberts is the Richard J. Schwartz Professor of government at Cornell University. He studies comparative and Latin America politics, with an emphasis on the political economy of development and the politics of inequality. His research explores the intersection of political parties, populism, and labor and social movements in Latin America. He is particularly known for his research on social protest against the free market economic reforms previously adopted in Latin America.

His research on Latin American populism, election volatility, party system change, and the social bases of political representation has been widely published. His published works include the books Changing Course in Latin America: Party Systems in the Neoliberal Era (Cambridge University Press, 2014) and The Resurgence of the Latin American Left (John Hopkins University Press, 2011); and journal articles “Democracy in the Developing World: Challenges of Survival and Significance” in Studies in Comparative International Development (2016) and “Market Reform, Programmatic (De-) Alignment, and Party System Stability in Latin America” in Comparative Political Studies (2013).  He is also the author of "Parties, Populism, and Democratic Decay: A Comparative Perspective on Political Polarization in the United States," in the forthcoming book When Democracy Trumps Populism: European and Latin American Lessons for the United States (Cambridge University Press, co-edited by Raúl Madrid and Kurt Weyland). 

A former Kellogg Institute Visiting Fellow, Roberts has also served as a member of the Kellogg Advisory Board. He holds a PhD from Stanford University.