Alejandro González Ruiz

Areas of Interest: Democratic backsliding, electoral observation, electoral justice, political regimes, Latin American politics

Alejandro is a first-year PhD student in Political Science at the University of Notre Dame with a focus on post-electoral conflicts and democratic backsliding. Alejandro seeks to implement a mixed methods approach to analyze data from electoral observation mission reports conducted by multiple institutions, especially international organizations and to conduct legal analyses of pivotal post-electoral conflicts. By examining the legal frameworks, court decisions, and political dynamics surrounding these conflicts, he wants to understand the role of law and institutions in shaping democratic outcomes. Through his research at Notre Dame, Alejandro aims to provide evidence-based recommendations for safeguarding democratic processes.

Alejandro has experience working in multilateral organizations such as the OAS and the Mexican government. He has managed technical-electoral cooperation projects in several Latin American countries and coordinated the OAS Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) in the State of Georgia for the 2020 US General Election. Alejandro holds a JD, graduated with highest honors, from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and a Master in Policy Management (MPM) from Georgetown University, where he collaborated as a Teacher Assistant (TA). He is fluent in Spanish and English and he regularly writes for the leading Mexican newspaper El Universal.