Greetings. I am a Canadian citizen and a Brazilian permanent citizen based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, where I work as a professor at the IBMEC Minas Gerais. I also consult and write reports on issues related to open government and transparency, blog for the CSM and contribute analyses and editorials to publications across Brazil. The lovely architect and project manager, Carolina Porto Fonseca, is my wonderful wife.
I earned my B.A. at McGill University in Montreal, and completed an M.A. in Latin American Studies and a Ph.D. (2010) in comparative politics and international relations both at the the University of Texas at Austin. My current research focuses on the intersection of transparency, the media, technology, and politics, as well as the design of transparency, open-data, and disclosure policies in government and business.
My dissertation examines the determinants of robust transparency and freedom of information (FOI) laws across Latin America and is now the basis for a book I am writing under contract for Cambridge University Press (forthcoming 2012). I write about Brazilian politics and political culture at Observing Brazil.
CONTACT: click to email, hover mouse for phone, skype and email address
PHOTO: The above picture was taken in Brasilia in April 2009, with Brazil's Federal Legislature in the background. Designed by acclaimed Brazilian Architect Oscar Niemeyer, the convex dome on the left represents the Senate and the concave bowl on the right, the Chamber of Deputies. I participated in a seminar organized by the Brazilian Government, Article IXX, ABRAJI and the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, which discussed Brazil’s need for a federal freedom of information law. A law was subsequently introduced into the Chamber of Deputies in May of 2009, languished in the Senate for more than a year and a half, and was finally enacted in October, 2011. To read current news about this law, see my blog. For more about Brazil's freedom of information adoption process, see my dissertation, chapter 4: Explaining the Surrender of Secrecy Across Latin America.
