Juan Campos

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science and a Research Associate at the Center on the Politics of Development at the University of California, Berkeley.

As a comparativist, I generally study the relationship between organized crime and policing in the developing world. My dissertation project explores why state and municipal governments in federal democracies implement police reforms that lead to the centralization of subnational policing institutions. This book-style dissertation also studies how effective these reforms are in controlling organized crime violence and police corruption within the context of a drug war. My research employs a multi-method approach that combines quantitative and qualitative techniques, including experimental and quasi-experimental statistical designs, interviewing, and process tracing.

I hold two M.A. degrees in Political Science from UC Berkeley and California State University, Long Beach. I also hold a B.A. in Government & International Politics from George Mason University.