About

Scott Mainwaring is the Eugene and Helen Conley Professor of Political Science. His research and teaching focus on democratization, political parties and party systems, and Latin American politics. Mainwaring was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2010. In April 2019, PS: Political Science and Politics listed him as one of the 50 most cited political scientists in the world. In 2020, an article in the Brazilian Political Science Review listed him as the most cited scholar in political science journals about Latin America and the most cited scholar on political institutions in political science journals from Latin America.

His book with Aníbal Pérez-Liñán, Democracies and Dictatorships in Latin America: Emergence, Survival, and Fall (Cambridge University Press, 2013) won the Best Book Prizes of the Democracy and Autocracy section of the American Political Science Association and of the Political Institutions section of the Latin American Studies Association. In 2026, he won the Samuel Eldersveld Career Achievement Award of the Political Organizations and Parties section of the American Political Science Association, which “recognizes a scholar whose lifetime professional work has made an outstanding contribution to the field.”    

In 2005, Mainwaring was awarded the James C. Burns, CSC Graduate School Award, given annually to a Notre Dame faculty member for distinguished teaching of graduate students. In 2013, he won the Notre Dame Research Achievement Award for outstanding contributions to research. In 2016, he won the Kellogg Institute prize for being an outstanding mentor to undergraduates.

Mainwaring served as the Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor for Brazil Studies and as faculty co-chair of the Brazil Studies program at Harvard University from 2016 to 2019.

Thematic Interests

Democratic institutions and democratization; political parties; the Catholic Church in Latin America

Countries
Regions
Research Tags

Selected Publications

Books

Kellogg Book Series

Journal Articles

Book Chapters

Working Papers

Other Accomplishments & Recognitions
  • 2026. Samuel Eldersveld Career Achievement Award of the Political Organizations and Parties section of the American Political Science Association. This award “recognizes a scholar whose lifetime professional work has made an outstanding contribution to the field.”  
     
  • 2020. Listed as the most cited scholar in political science journals about Latin America and the most cited scholar on political institutions in political science journals from Latin America, based on a survey of 5880 articles in 23 journals indexed in the Scopus database. In Adriano Codato, Rafael Madeira, and Maiane Bittencourt, “Political Science in Latin America: A Scientometric Analysis.” Brazilian Political Science Review 14 No. 3 (2020). 
     
  • 2019. Listed as among the 50 most-cited political scientists in the world in Hannah June Kim and Bernard Grofman, “The Political Science 400: With Citation Counts by Gender, Cohort, and Subfield,” PS: Political Science and Politics (April 2019).  
  • Donna Lee Van Cott prize, Latin American Political Institutions section of the Latin American Studies Association, for the best book published in 2013.
     
  • Co-winner, Democracy and Autocracy section of the American Political Science Association for the best book published in 2013.

  • Kellogg Institute's Undergraduate Mentoring Award, 2015-16

  • Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2010

  • James C. Burns, CSC Graduate School Award (given annually to a Notre Dame faculty member for distinguished teaching of graduate students) 2005
Aníbal Pérez-Liñán and Scott Mainwaring
News

Kellogg Institute Leaders Publish Landmark Study on Democratic Trajectories

May 29, 2025

The Kellogg Institute is pleased to announce a major new publication by its director, Aníbal Pérez-Liñán, and former director Scott Mainwaring in the prestigious British Journal of Political Science. Their article, “Democratic Trajectories in the Third Wave: Aligning Theory and Methods,” offers a groundbreaking analysis of democratization processes since the 1970s, providing fresh insights into one of the most dynamic periods in global political development.