
Rocio Rivera
Ph.D. candidate in international studies, University of Miami

- Profile
Profile
Residency: September – December 2015
Research Project: The Role of State Capacity in Mitigating Organized Crime in Mexico
Research Interests: organized crime, regional security, international relations theory and civil-military relations
Biography
Rocío Rivera Barradas is a Ph.D. candidate in international studies at the University of Miami, where she also earned a master’s in international relations. She earned a B.A. in political science and international relations from Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas.
Rivera Barradas’s research project examines the role of state capacity—in military and bureaucratic terms—and the configuration of the illegal drug market in influencing levels of violence in Mexico. Though several studies have emphasized the unintended consequence that the deployment of military forces has had in increasing levels of violence, there are some cities in which the presence of the army, on the contrary, has reduced violence. Her research examines which factors contribute to a successful mitigation of organized crime-related violence.