John Polga-Hecimovich

About

I study how political institutions shape democratic stability, policymaking, and governance, with a focus on Latin America.

Much of my work asks how presidents exercise power: how they deal with legislatures and their own bureaucracies, and why some fall from office while others survive. I also study civil-military relations, organized crime and security, and the design of electoral institutions, with particular attention to Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia.

My research appears in The Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, Electoral Studies, Democratization, Latin American Politics and Society, and the Latin American Research Review, among others. My most recent book, co-edited with Raúl Sánchez Urribarrí, is Authoritarian Consolidation in Times of Crisis: Venezuela under Nicolás Maduro (Routledge, 2025).

I hold a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh, an MA in Latin American Studies from the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar in Quito, and a BA from Dartmouth College. Before joining the Naval Academy in 2016, I taught at Wake Forest University, the College of William & Mary, and FLACSO-Ecuador. I work in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.