Scott Morgenstern is a Professor of Political Science, and has been at the University of Pittsburgh since 2005. He served as the Director of Pitt's Center for Latin American Studies from 2014-2018. His research focuses on political parties, electoral systems, and legislatures, with a regional specialization in Latin America.
He has authored two books: Are Politics Local? The Two Dimensions of Party Nationalization around the World (Cambridge University Press 2017), and Patterns of Legislative Politics: Roll Call Voting in the United States and Latin America’s Southern Cone (Cambridge University Press, 2004) He has also edited and contributed to three books, Legislative Politics in Latin America (Cambridge University Press, 2002). Pathways to Power (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2008), and Reforming Communism: Cuba in Comparative Perspective (University of Pittsburgh Press forthcoming, 2018). His articles have appeared in the Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies; Comparative Politics, Party Politics, Electoral Studies, Review of International Political Economy, and other journals. He was also the primary investigator on a grant from the USAID to produce documents related to their political party development programs.
His recent courses at the undergraduate level have included US-Latin American Relations, Building Democracy and its Institutions, and Latin American Politics. At the graduate level he teaches Comparative Legislatures and Latin American Politics.
In his spare time he watches Pitt Ultimate Frisbee.
Education & Training
- PhD, University of California, San Diego, 1996
Representative Publications
“Presidential Threats and Bureaucrats' Support for Democracy in Brazil,” with Darren Hawkins Tayla Ingles Mona Lyne and Daniel Nielson. Policy Studies, 2025
"Emergency without Backsliding". With Akira Pinto Medeiros Constitutional Political Economy. 2025
“Frustrated Marriage? The Ideological Distance of Members of Congress from their Parties in Latin America”. With Joao Guedes. Party Politics, 2024
“How Germane are Moral and Economic Policies to Ideology? Evidence from Latin American Legislators,” with Chuang Chen, Elias Chavarria-Mora, and Valentina Gonzalez Rostani. (2024) Legislative Studies Quarterly
“Party Cohesion, Congruence, and Foreign Powers: Latin American views about China and the United States” with Asbel Bohigues and Cui Shoujun, (2024), Latin American Politics and Society
Paths for Cuba: Reforming Communism in Comparative Perspective: (University of Pittsburgh Press, (2019) Introduction Available Here
Are Politics Local? The Two Dimensions of Party Nationalization around the World (Cambridge University Press; 2017)
Reforming Communism: Cuba in Comparative Perspective: (University of Pittsburgh Press, forthcoming) Introduction Available Here
Siavelis, Peter M. and Scott Morgenstern, eds. 2008. Pathways to Power: Political Recruitment and Candidate Selection in Latin America. Pennsylvania State University Press.
Morgenstern, Scott. 2004. Patterns of Legislative Politics: Roll Call Voting in the Latin America and the United States. Cambridge University Press.
Patterns of Legislative Politics (Cambridge University Press; 2003)
Nacif, Benito and Scott Morgenstern, eds. 2002. Legislative Politics in Latin America. Cambridge University Press.
