Welcome!

I am a Postdoctoral Visiting Fellow at the University of Notre Dame’s Kellogg Institute for International Studies. I received my Ph.D. in Political Science from Texas Tech University in 2025. You can find a copy of my CV here.

My research sits at the intersection of comparative politics, international relations, and security studies, with a focus on civil-military relations, security studies, and democratic backsliding. A central argument running through my work is that external pressures, international patronage ties, security threats, and foreign military assistance reshape the bargaining between civilian and military elites, with consequences for civilian control and regime trajectories. My book project, Supporters or Bystanders? The Military's Role in Democratic Backsliding in Latin America, examines how elected executives strategically incorporate the armed forces as they concentrate power and erode democratic constraints.

I have taught courses on international politics and served as a teaching assistant for graduate courses in causal inference and political institutions. I began my graduate studies in the United States as a Fulbright Scholar, and hold an MA in Security Studies from Kansas State University.