Central Michigan University

Faculty Member, Political Science

Professor and Chairperson

College of Humanities and Social & Behavioral Sciences

About

Orlando J. Pérez is Professor and Chairperson in the Department of Political Science at Central Michigan University. He teaches courses in comparative politics, Latin American politics, and U.S.-Latin American relations. He has carried out field research in Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, and Venezuela. As a consultant, he has worked on public opinion surveys, democratization, civil-military relations, and anti-corruption issues for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the UN Development Program. He is a recipient of a grant from the United States Institute of Peace for his project studying the transformation of civil-military relations in post-authoritarian Central America. He is the author of Political Culture in Panama: Democracy after Invasion (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2011). He is co-editor (with Richard Millett and Jennifer Holmes) of Latin American Democracy: Emerging Reality or Endangered Species? (Routledge, 2009), and editor of Post-Invasion Panama: The Challenges of Democratization in the New World Order (Lexington Books, 2000). His other publications include, “U.S. Security Policy and U.S.-Venezuela Relations,” In Addicted to Failure. US Security Policy in Latin America and the Andean Region, (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006); “La Transformación de las Relaciones Civiles - Militares en Centroamérica,” (with Ricardo Córdova Macías), In Las relaciones civiles militares en el mundo Iberoamericano, (Madrid, España 2005); “La agenda de seguridad en Centroamérica hacia el siglo XXI,” (with Ricardo Córdova Macias), In El Rompecabezas: Conformando la seguridad hemisférica en el siglo XXI, (Buenos Aires, 2006); and “El neomilitarismo latinoamericano y su desafió a la democracia liberal”, In Militares y Civiles: Balance y perspectivas de las relaciones civiles-militares venezolanas en la segunda mitad del siglo XX, (Caracas, 2001).  He has published articles in the Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs, Hemisphere, South Eastern Latin Americanist, Political Science Quarterly, and Journal of Political and Military Sociology. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Pittsburgh. He is a member of the Scientific Support Group for the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) at Vanderbilt University and directs the AmericasBarometer survey in Panama. His current research focuses on civil-military relations in Latin America, crime and security issues in Central America, as well as survey research on democratic political culture.

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