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Guillermo O'Donnell
Guillermo Alberto O'Donnell Ure (February 24, 1936 – November 29, 2011) was a prominent Argentine political scientist who specialized in comparative politics and Latin American politics. He spent most of his career working in Argentina and the United States, and who made lasting contributions to theorizing on authoritarianism and democratization, democracy and the state, and the politics of Latin America. His brother is Pacho O'Donnell.
Guillermo Alberto O'Donnell Ure was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina to a family of Irish descent from County Donegal. He studied law at the University of Buenos Aires and became a lawyer in 1958, aged 22. He was involved in student politics, and was Secretary and Acting President of the Buenos Aires University Federation (FUBA), part of the Argentine University Federation, in 1954–1955. Later he served as national Vice-Minister of Interior (Political Affairs), in Argentina, in 1963. But he focused mainly on making a living by working as a lawyer and teaching. During these years he taught in the School of Law at the University of Buenos Aires (1958–66) and at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina (1966–68).
In 1968 O'Donnell left Argentina to pursue graduate studies in political science at Yale University. He earned his master's degree in political science in 1971, but rather than complete his dissertation and take a job offer from Harvard University, he returned to Buenos Aires. The text he started to work on at Yale was published as Modernization and Bureaucratic-Authoritarianism (1973), a book that immediately drew a lot of attention and led to a seminal debate about Latin American politics in David Collier's edited volume, The New Authoritarianism in Latin America (1979).[page needed] But since this text was published, it could not be presented as a dissertation. And thus O'Donnell would not receive his Ph.D. in political science from Yale University until he presented a new dissertation and thus was awarded his Ph.D. belatedly, once he was an established scholar and professor, in 1987.[citation needed]
In Argentina, O'Donnell initially taught at the Universidad del Salvador (1972–75) and was a researcher at the Centro de Investigaciones en Administración Pública (CIAP), at the Torcuato di Tella Institute, between 1971 and 1975. Subsequently, O'Donnell was a founding member of CEDES (Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad), where he worked from 1975 until 1979.[citation needed] During this period, Argentina was increasingly swept by violence, as guerrilla organizations such as the Montoneros sought to undermine the government and eventually the military rulers came to power in 1976 and launched a dirty war.[citation needed] In this climate, CEDES was one of the few research centers where critical thinking about politics thrived.[citation needed] Indeed, in 1978, O'Donnell launched a major research project on democratic transitions in Southern Europe and Latin America, which he co-directed with Philippe C. Schmitter, sponsored by the Latin American Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, in Washington, D.C. The project began with three conferences, in 1979, 1980, and 1981, that gathered many of the world’s most distinguished scholars of democracy, including Robert A. Dahl, Juan Linz, Adam Przeworski, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and Albert Otto Hirschman. It would result in a landmark publication: Transitions from Authoritarian Rule. Prospects for Democracy (1986).
In late 1979, O'Donnell left Argentina again, this time for Brazil. He worked as a researcher at IUPERJ (Instituto Universitário de Pesquisas do Rio de Janeiro) (1980–82) and then moved to the research center CEBRAP (Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento) in São Paulo in 1982, replacing sociologist Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who had become a national Senator. But O'Donnell moved again, now from Brazil to the United States, in 1983. Thereafter, though he maintained his affiliation with CEBRAP until 1991, he taught at the University of Notre Dame from 1983 until 2009, where he was Helen Kellogg Professor of Government and International Studies. He was also academic director of the Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies of the University of Notre Dame from 1983 until 1997. His twenty-six year association with Notre Dame made this university the most important institutional home of O'Donnell's career.
During his career, O'Donnell played a leadership role in many professional associations. He served as president of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) from 1988 to 1991, and was vice-president of the American Political Science Association (APSA) in 1999–2000. He also held many short term appointment at universities around the world. He was a visiting professor at the University of Michigan in 1973-74; the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLASCO), in Buenos Aires, in 1978-79; the University of California, Berkeley, in 1982; the Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Ciencias Sociales, at the Instituto Juan March, in Madrid, in 1997; the University of Cambridge, where he was the Simon Bolivar Distinguished Visiting Professor in 2002-03; and the University of Oxford, where he was Senior Visiting Fellow in Politics at Nuffield College in 2003-04 and John G. Winant Visiting Professorship of American Government in 2007-08. He also was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford, California) in 2001-2002.
He bridged the worlds of academia and politics, working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) during the 2000s, collaborating with Dante Caputo and Gerardo Munck in the preparation of the United Nations Development Programme’s report Democracy in Latin America. Toward a Citizens’ Democracy (2004), and a follow-up text, Democracia/Estado/Ciudadanía. Hacia un Estado de y para la democracia en América Latina (2008). O'Donnell also was a member of the Advisory Board of the United Nations Democracy Fund and a member of the scientific committee of Fundación IDEAS, Spain's Socialist Party's think-tank.
O'Donnell returned to his native Buenos Aires in 2009. There he continued to be active on the local academic scene. He joined the Escuela de Política y Gobierno, at the National University of General San Martín (Universidad Nacional de San Martín [UNSAM[), his last professional affiliation. At UNSAM O'Donnell founded the Centro de Investigaciones sobre el Estado y la Democracia en América Latina (CIEDAL), in 2010. In 2011, he was diagnosed with cancer and, after a four month battle, he died on November 29, 2011, at the age of 75. A public wake was held in the legislative building of the City of Buenos Aires, and his remains were buried in the Recoleta Cemetery.
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Guillermo O'Donnell
Guillermo Alberto O'Donnell Ure (February 24, 1936 – November 29, 2011) was a prominent Argentine political scientist who specialized in comparative politics and Latin American politics. He spent most of his career working in Argentina and the United States, and who made lasting contributions to theorizing on authoritarianism and democratization, democracy and the state, and the politics of Latin America. His brother is Pacho O'Donnell.
Guillermo Alberto O'Donnell Ure was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina to a family of Irish descent from County Donegal. He studied law at the University of Buenos Aires and became a lawyer in 1958, aged 22. He was involved in student politics, and was Secretary and Acting President of the Buenos Aires University Federation (FUBA), part of the Argentine University Federation, in 1954–1955. Later he served as national Vice-Minister of Interior (Political Affairs), in Argentina, in 1963. But he focused mainly on making a living by working as a lawyer and teaching. During these years he taught in the School of Law at the University of Buenos Aires (1958–66) and at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina (1966–68).
In 1968 O'Donnell left Argentina to pursue graduate studies in political science at Yale University. He earned his master's degree in political science in 1971, but rather than complete his dissertation and take a job offer from Harvard University, he returned to Buenos Aires. The text he started to work on at Yale was published as Modernization and Bureaucratic-Authoritarianism (1973), a book that immediately drew a lot of attention and led to a seminal debate about Latin American politics in David Collier's edited volume, The New Authoritarianism in Latin America (1979).[page needed] But since this text was published, it could not be presented as a dissertation. And thus O'Donnell would not receive his Ph.D. in political science from Yale University until he presented a new dissertation and thus was awarded his Ph.D. belatedly, once he was an established scholar and professor, in 1987.[citation needed]
In Argentina, O'Donnell initially taught at the Universidad del Salvador (1972–75) and was a researcher at the Centro de Investigaciones en Administración Pública (CIAP), at the Torcuato di Tella Institute, between 1971 and 1975. Subsequently, O'Donnell was a founding member of CEDES (Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad), where he worked from 1975 until 1979.[citation needed] During this period, Argentina was increasingly swept by violence, as guerrilla organizations such as the Montoneros sought to undermine the government and eventually the military rulers came to power in 1976 and launched a dirty war.[citation needed] In this climate, CEDES was one of the few research centers where critical thinking about politics thrived.[citation needed] Indeed, in 1978, O'Donnell launched a major research project on democratic transitions in Southern Europe and Latin America, which he co-directed with Philippe C. Schmitter, sponsored by the Latin American Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, in Washington, D.C. The project began with three conferences, in 1979, 1980, and 1981, that gathered many of the world’s most distinguished scholars of democracy, including Robert A. Dahl, Juan Linz, Adam Przeworski, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and Albert Otto Hirschman. It would result in a landmark publication: Transitions from Authoritarian Rule. Prospects for Democracy (1986).
In late 1979, O'Donnell left Argentina again, this time for Brazil. He worked as a researcher at IUPERJ (Instituto Universitário de Pesquisas do Rio de Janeiro) (1980–82) and then moved to the research center CEBRAP (Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento) in São Paulo in 1982, replacing sociologist Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who had become a national Senator. But O'Donnell moved again, now from Brazil to the United States, in 1983. Thereafter, though he maintained his affiliation with CEBRAP until 1991, he taught at the University of Notre Dame from 1983 until 2009, where he was Helen Kellogg Professor of Government and International Studies. He was also academic director of the Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies of the University of Notre Dame from 1983 until 1997. His twenty-six year association with Notre Dame made this university the most important institutional home of O'Donnell's career.
During his career, O'Donnell played a leadership role in many professional associations. He served as president of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) from 1988 to 1991, and was vice-president of the American Political Science Association (APSA) in 1999–2000. He also held many short term appointment at universities around the world. He was a visiting professor at the University of Michigan in 1973-74; the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLASCO), in Buenos Aires, in 1978-79; the University of California, Berkeley, in 1982; the Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Ciencias Sociales, at the Instituto Juan March, in Madrid, in 1997; the University of Cambridge, where he was the Simon Bolivar Distinguished Visiting Professor in 2002-03; and the University of Oxford, where he was Senior Visiting Fellow in Politics at Nuffield College in 2003-04 and John G. Winant Visiting Professorship of American Government in 2007-08. He also was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford, California) in 2001-2002.
He bridged the worlds of academia and politics, working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) during the 2000s, collaborating with Dante Caputo and Gerardo Munck in the preparation of the United Nations Development Programme’s report Democracy in Latin America. Toward a Citizens’ Democracy (2004), and a follow-up text, Democracia/Estado/Ciudadanía. Hacia un Estado de y para la democracia en América Latina (2008). O'Donnell also was a member of the Advisory Board of the United Nations Democracy Fund and a member of the scientific committee of Fundación IDEAS, Spain's Socialist Party's think-tank.
O'Donnell returned to his native Buenos Aires in 2009. There he continued to be active on the local academic scene. He joined the Escuela de Política y Gobierno, at the National University of General San Martín (Universidad Nacional de San Martín [UNSAM[), his last professional affiliation. At UNSAM O'Donnell founded the Centro de Investigaciones sobre el Estado y la Democracia en América Latina (CIEDAL), in 2010. In 2011, he was diagnosed with cancer and, after a four month battle, he died on November 29, 2011, at the age of 75. A public wake was held in the legislative building of the City of Buenos Aires, and his remains were buried in the Recoleta Cemetery.