The William J. Perry Center is happy to announce that Dr. Alejandra Bolaños has joined the Center as the newest faculty member.
Dr. Alejandra Bolaños
Dr. Bolaños has extensive academic and operational experience in Latin America and the Caribbean. She did her undergraduate studies at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education in Mexico, earned a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, in 2002, and completed her Doctorate in International Relations at The Fletcher School in 2010. Her doctoral dissertation was titled, “Al Qaeda: Evaluating Transformations and Future Prospects of Terrorism.” She has extensive experience in International Security Studies, Institution Building, Rule of Law, International Negotiation, and Conflict Resolution.
In January 2016, she completed a research project on Mexico’s law enforcement and security sector capabilities to contain and counter present and future threats. As part of that effort, she developed a comprehensive map of the roles, responsibilities, capacities, and performance of Mexic2016o’s police (federal, state, municipal), armed forces, criminal justice system, and security oversight and management institutions; completed an analysis of the causes and dynamics involved in the spike of lethal force employed by criminal organizations; conducted a 6-year evaluation of Mexico’s law enforcement, armed forces, and criminal justice sector reform process (encompassing institution building requirements); and identified institutional and operational capacity gaps that could be focal points for bilateral cooperation between the US and those international partners that share Mexico’s levels of organized crime violence. Her research results will be included in the forthcoming book by principal investigators Richard Shultz (Fletcher School) and Querine Hanlon (SCG), Prioritizing Security Sector Reform: A New US Approach (Washington DC; USIP, 2016).
Prior to that, Dr. Bolaños was a faculty member from 2008 to 2015 at the College of International Security Affairs (International Counterterrorism Fellowship Program) at National Defense University. During that time, she received numerous prestigious honors including being invited as subject matter expert to Harvard University-Fletcher School’s Program on Institutional Reform and Security in the Americas; served as the lead expert to Department of Defense, Department of State, National Defense University joint initiatives on the Role of Women and Conflict; and served as the Department Head of the International Security Studies program.
From everyone at The William J. Perry Center, welcome to Dr. Alejandra Bolaños!
