Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Manoel Gehrke
Fall 2026 Craig M. Cogut Visiting Professor
Biography
Manoel Gehrke is Cogut Visiting Professor at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Brown University. His research lies at the intersection of comparative politics, political economy, and judicial politics. His work has appeared in the Journal of Democracy, Governance, Government & Opposition, among other outlets. He is based at FGV São Paulo, Brazil, where he leads a research group focused on accountability, elite behavior and threats to democracy in Latin America. He received his PhD in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and has held research appointments at Bocconi University, the University of Birmingham and the University of Pisa.
He is engaged in collaborative cross-national projects that investigate why and when national elites are prosecuted for corruption and other crimes, and how such prosecutions influence democratic institutions. His book manuscript examines how political elites’ reactions shape the effects of anti-corruption investigations and convictions in Brazilian municipalities. Gehrke's research explores topics such as the role of money in politics, how prosecutors and courts respond to authoritarian pressures, how nepotism operates within political bargaining, and how parties circumvent electoral-fraud safeguards. A second strand of his research addresses the political economy of environmental degradation. He examines issues such as how political favoritism, corporate lobbying, and the selective enforcement of environmental law drive deforestation and industrial emissions.