Benjamin Goldfrank , Ph.D.
Professor
School of Diplomacy and International Relations
(973) 275-2095
Email
McQuaid Hall
Room 112
Benjamin Goldfrank, Ph.D.
Benjamin Goldfrank joined the School of Diplomacy and International Relations in 2007 and served as Department Chair from 2013 to 2019. He teaches classes on Latin American politics, society, and economic development, and U.S. foreign policy toward the region, as well as the capstone research project course. His research interests focus on the comparative analysis of Latin American politics, experiments in participatory democracy, and political parties.
Dr. Goldfrank has published over 35 articles and book chapters. He is also the co-author of The Rise, Spread, and Decline of Brazil’s Participatory Budgeting (Palgrave, 2022), author of Deepening Local Democracy in Latin America: Participation, Decentralization and the Left (Penn State University Press, 2011), and co-editor of The Left in the City: Participatory Local Governments in Latin America (Latin American Bureau and Transnational Institute, 2004), which was translated into Spanish and Italian.
Education
- Ph.D., Political Science, University of California, Berkeley, 2002
- M.A., Political Science, University of California, Berkeley, 1996
- B.A., Social Studies, Harvard University, 1993
Scholarship
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The Rise, Spread, and Decline of Brazil’s Participatory Budgeting: The Arc of a Democratic Innovation. Co-Authored with Brian Wampler. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022.
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-90058-8#toc -
“Social Movements and Participatory Institutions in Latin America,” co-authored with Rocío Annunziata, in The Oxford Handbook of Latin American Social Movements, edited by Federico Rossi. Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2022.
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“Scaling-Up and Zooming-Out: Understanding How and When Participatory Institutions Matter,” co-authored with Jared Abbott, Comparative Politics 53:4 (July 2021). https://tinyurl.com/mssen3ss
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“The Systemic Turn and Participatory Budgeting: The Case of Rio Grande do Sul,” co-authored with Sveinung Legard, Journal of Latin American Studies 53:1 (February 2021). https://tinyurl.com/yckjh23j
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“Inclusion without Power: Limits of Participatory Institutions,” in The Inclusionary Turn in Latin American Democracies, edited by Diana Kapiszewski, Steven Levitsky, and Deborah Yashar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. https://tinyurl.com/mwkn2emy
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“La democracia estadounidense en el siglo XXI: ¿Mengua temporal o un ocaso permanente?” in ¿Una nueva democracia para el siglo XXI? edited by Joaquín Brugué Torruella, Simone Martins, and Carmen Pineda Nebot. Buenos Aires: CLACSO, 2020. https://tinyurl.com/z8w3r9d6
Published in Portuguese as, “A democracia estadunidense no século XXI: declínio temporário ou decadência permanente?” in Uma nova democracia para o século XXI? edited by Joaquín Brugué Torruella, Simone Martins, and Carmen Pineda Nebot. Viçosa: Instituto de Políticas Públicas e Desenvolvimento Sustentável, 2020. https://tinyurl.com/bdhz2kk7 -
“Sistemas Participativas en Brasil y Venezuela: Orígenes y ocasos de dos modelos,” co-authored with María Teresa González Esquivel, Caderno CRH (Universidade Federal da Bahia), 33:87 (July 2020). https://tinyurl.com/2p8pey6n
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“Participatory Democracy in Latin America? Limited Legacies of the Left Turn,” in Legacies of the Left Turn in Latin America: The Promise of Inclusive Citizenship, edited by Manuel Balán and Francoise Montambeault. South Bend: Notre Dame University Press, 2020. https://tinyurl.com/2p8f4fw4
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“Las instituciones participativas en las grandes ciudades latinoamericanas: Entre las promesas y los problemas,” in Lorena Vásquez González (ed.), Instituciones participativas en Sudamérica: ¿del optimismo al ocaso? (Bogotá: Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano, 2020). https://tinyurl.com/yckjv6nu
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“La difusión y el diseño de los presupuestos participativos en Brasil y los Estados Unidos,” Revista de Ciencia Política y Gobierno (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú) 11 (2019). https://tinyurl.com/bdeabx4k
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“Participatory Budgeting in Canada and the United States,” co-authored with Katherine Landes, in Hope for Democracy: 30 Years of Participatory Budgeting Worldwide, edited by Nelson Dias. Faro, Portugal: Oficina, 2018. https://tinyurl.com/2p8wpub4
Accomplishments
Awards and Grants
- University Research Council Summer Research Grant, Seton Hall University. (2020)
- Seton Hall University Teacher of the Year, 2016.
- Teacher of the Year, School of Diplomacy, Seton Hall University, 2016.
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Salgo-Noren Teacher of the Year, School of Diplomacy, Seton Hall University, 2012.
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Researcher of the Year, School of Diplomacy, Seton Hall University, 2011-2012.
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University Research Council Award, Seton Hall University, 2010.
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Fulbright Fellowship, for dissertation research in Brazil, 1998-9.
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Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Harvard University, 1993.