Arturo C. Sotomayor
Arturo C. Sotomayor
Associate Professor of International Affairs; Director of the M.A. in Security Policy Studies Program
Full-time Faculty
Department: MA Security Policy Studies
Contact:
1957 E St. NW, Office #605L
Washington, D.C. 20052
Arturo C. Sotomayor is Associate Professor of International Affairs and Director of the Security Policy Studies Program at the Elliott School of International Affairs. His areas of interest include civil-military relations in Latin America; UN peacekeeping participation by South American countries; Latin American comparative foreign policy, and nuclear policy in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. His research analyzes the impact of international socialization, militarization, and denuclearization in three areas: 1) military operations other than war (MOOTW); 2) trans-national and border security; and 3) regional non-proliferation strategies. The unifying thread that runs through his research and writing is the interaction between studies on civil-military relations and international security, and research on the conditions and requirements for domestic order and regional stability in Latin America.
His publications have appeared in Security Studies, International Peacekeeping, Journal of Latin American Politics and Society, Nonproliferation Review, Small Wars and Insurgencies, Global Responsibility to Protect, Foreign Affairs, and other edited volumes. His volume The Myth of the Democratic Peacekeeper: Civil-Military Relations and the United Nations (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014) was the winner of the 2015 Luciano Tomassini Latin American International Relations Book Award, presented by the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) to the author of an outstanding book on Latin American foreign policies and international relations published in English, Spanish or Portuguese in any country. He is the co-editor of American Crossings: Border Politics in the Western Hemisphere (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015), Mexico's Security Failure: Collapse into Criminal Violence (Routledge, 2012), and El mundo desde México: Ensayos de política internacional (El Colegio de Mexico, 2008).
Before joining the GWU faculty in the fall of 2018, Sotomayor was Associate Professor of Political Science and Program Coordinator for Latin American Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), Associate Professor in the Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, Mexico Policy Research Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Inter-American Policy Research (CIPR) at Tulane University, and Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas CIDE, in Mexico City. He was also the 2016-2017 Academic Coordinator of the UTSA Mellon Humanities Pathways Program, which received generous funding from the Andrew Mellon Foundation and provided 12 selected and academically outstanding undergraduate students with exposure to humanities research, professional development, and academic mentoring for admission into doctoral studies in the humanities. His research agenda has been funded by multiple agencies, including the Ford Foundation, the Defense Threat Assessment Agency (DTRA) at the Department of Defense, the Minerva Research Initiative, and the Fulbright-Garcia Robles scholarship program. In 2014 Sotomayor was the recipient of the LCDR David L. Williams Outstanding Professor Award presented by the Naval Postgraduate School. He received his M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University and his B.A. degree in international relations from Technological Autonomous Institute of Mexico (ITAM).
2015 Luciano Tomassini Latin American International Relations Book Award, presented by the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) to the author of an outstanding book on Latin American foreign policies and international relations published in English, Spanish or Portuguese in any country for The Myth of the Democratic Peacekeeper: Civil-Military Relations and the United Nations (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014). 2014 LCDR David L. Williams Outstanding Professor Award presented by the Naval Postgraduate School
1) military operations other than war (MOOTW) and UN peacekeeping; 2) trans-national and border security; 3) regional non-proliferation strategies; 4) Latin American comparative foreign policy; 5) US-Mexico relations
Scientists, the military and nuclear energy development in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico
IAFF 6186 United States (U.S.) National Security (SPS MA Program)
Books
American Crossings: Border Politics in the Western Hemisphere (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015). Co-edited with Maiah Jaskoski and Harold Trinkunas.
The Myth of the Democratic Peacekeeper: Civil-Military Relations and the United Nations (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014).
Mexico's Security Failure: Collapse into Criminal Violence (New York: Routledge, 2012). Co-edited with Paul Kenny and Mónica Serrano.
Selected journal articles
“Las fuerzas armadas en América Latina: Procesos, Avances y Retrocesos” in Foreign Affairs Latinoamérica, Vol. 17, 4(October-December 2017): 2-8.
“Mexico and the R2P Challenge: The Commitment Trap.” Global Responsibility to Protect 8, 1(2016): 29-50.
“The Nepalese Army: From Counterinsurgency to Peacekeeping?” Small Wars and Insurgencies 25, 5-6 (October 2014): 992-1016.
“Brazil and Mexico in the Nonproliferation Regime.” The Nonproliferation Review 20, 1(March 2013): 81-105. Republished in: “Brazil and Mexico in the Nonproliferation Regime.” In Jeffrey R. Fields, ed. State Behavior and the Nuclear Nonproliferation regime (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2014), pp. 218-250.
“Peacekeeping Effects in South America: Common Experiences and Divergent Effects on Civil-Military Relations.” International Peacekeeping 17, 5(November 2010): 629–643.
“Why Some States Participate in UN Peace Missions While Others Do Not?” An Analysis of Civil-Military Relations and Its Effects on Latin America’s Contributions to Peacekeeping Operations.” Security Studies19, 1(January 2010): 160-195.
Selected book chapters
“Trade, Trafficking and Security in the Laredo-Nuevo Laredo Region: How a Border Region Became More Integrated by Trade Yet Segregated by Security,” book chapter in William Dupont and Harriett Romo, co-editors, Bridging Cultures: Reflections on the Cultural Heritage of the Borderlands (Texas A&M University Press, forthcoming 2018).
“Latin America’s Experience with Peace Support Operations: From Peacekeeping Recipients to Peace Exporters.” In Arie Kacowicz and David Mares, co-editors, Handbook of Latin American Security (New York: Routledge, 2015). pp. 324-335.
“Legalizing and Judicializing Territorial and Maritime Border Disputes in Latin America: Causes and Unintended Consequences.” In Maiah Jaskoski, Arturo C. Sotomayor, and Harold A. Trinkunas, eds., American Crossings: Border Politics in the Western Hemisphere (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015), pp. 38-65.
“Latin America’s Experience with Peace Support Operations: From Peacekeeping Recipients to Peace Exporters.” In Arie Kacowicz and David Mares, co-editors, Handbook of Latin American Security (New York: Routledge, 2015). pp. 324-335.
“Latin America’s Increased Role in UN Peace Operations: Current Trends and a Note of Caution, in David R. Mares, ed., Debating Civil-Military Relations in Latin America (Sussex: Sussex Academic Press, 2014), pp. 181-206.
“Democratization and Commitment to Peace: South America’s Motivations.” In Kai Michael Kenkel, ed. South America and Peace Operations (New York: Routledge, 2013), pp. 45-63.
“Nepal.” In Alex J. Bellamy and Paul D. Williams, eds. Providing Peacekeepers: The Politics, Challenges and Future of UN Peacekeeping Operations (New York: Oxford University Press), 2013, pp. 291-311.
“Uruguay.” In Alex J. Bellamy and Paul D. Williams, eds. Providing Peacekeepers: The Politics, Challenges and Future of UN Peacekeeping Operations (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), pp. 312-331.
Ph.D., Political Science and International Relations, Columbia University 2004