I study emerging challenges to contemporary democracy, with a focus on Latin America. My dissertation examines what I call criminal electioneering—deliberate attempts by criminal organizations to influence elections—in Mexico and Central America. My writing has appeared in the Journal of Democracy, Lawfare, the Monkey Cage, and Slate. Born and raised in El Salvador, I have an A.B. from Harvard College and an M.Sc. from Oxford. I am a 2022-23 USIP-Minerva Peace and Security Scholar.
Contact
mmelend@g.harvard.edu
My Website
1737 Cambridge Street
Subfields
Comparative Politics
Academic Interests
Democracy | Institutions | Parties, Campaigns, & Elections | Political Economy & Development
Research Methods
Formal Theory | Qualitative Methods | Quantitative Methods
Geographic Regions of Study
Latin America