Background
Leslie Gates is currently an Associate Professor of sociology and a faculty affiliate of the Latin American and Caribbean Area Studies Program.She is a historical sociologists who studies politics in Latin America.The shock of the Sandinista defeat in Nicaragua’s 1990 presidential election hooked her.Ever since, she has been intrigued by the forces which stymie movements for greater self-determination in the region.She has sought to understand the decline of Mexico’s once powerful labor movement in the neoliberal era, the deployment of gendered labor reforms by El Salvador’s military regimes, the surprising return of the left in Venezuela, and more recently, the rise of right-wing outsiders. Two Fulbright awards have funded her research in Mexico and Venezuela.She has served as the chair of the Section on Political Economy of the World System of the ASA. While her approach to research is historical, she uses both quantitative and qualitative techniques to analyze empirical evidence. She welcomes the opportunity to work with graduate students with similar interests, regardless of regional focus.
Education
- PhD, MA, University of Arizona
- BA, Princeton University
Research Interests
- Politics in Latin America
- Historical Sociology
- State-Business Relations
More Info
Selected Publications:
- Gates, Leslie C. and Mehmet Deniz. 2019. “Puzzling Politics: A Methodology for Turning World-Systems Analysis Inside-Out.” Journal of World-Systems Research. Vol 25, Issue #1: 59-82.
- Griffith, Kati and Leslie C. Gates. 2019. “Worker Centers: Labor Policy as a Carrot, Not a Stick,” Harvard Law & Policy Review. Vol 14, Issue #1: 602-627.
- Gates, Leslie C. 2018. “Populism: A puzzle without (and for) World-Systems Analysis.” Journal of World-Systems Research. Vol 24, Issue #2: 325-336.
- Gates, Leslie. 2014. “Interest Groups in Venezuela: Lessons from the failure of a ‘Model Democracy’ and the rise of a Bolivarian democracy” Journal of Public Affairs. Vol 14 Issue #3: 240–253. Best Article 2012 in the Social Science, Venezuelan Section, Latin American Studies Association.
- Gates,
Leslie. 2010. Electing
Chávez: The Business of Anti-Neoliberal Politics in Venezuela. Pittsburgh, PA: University of
Pittsburgh Press, Pitt Latin American
Series.
- Gates, Leslie. 2009. “Theorizing Business Power in the Semiperiphery: Mexico 1970-2000.” Theory and Society. 38: 57-95. Best Article Award 2009, Political Economy of World-System Section, American Sociological Association.
