Jorge Castañeda

Jorge Castañeda, Global Distinguished Professor of Politics and Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Jorge Castañeda is a renowned public intellectual, political scientist, and prolific writer, with an interest in Latin American politics, comparative politics and U.S.-Latin American relations. He is the former Foreign Minister of Mexico (2000-2003), and in that position he focused on diverse issues in U.S.-Mexican relations, including migration, trade, security, and narcotics control; joint diplomatic initiatives on the part of Latin American nations; and the promotion of Mexican economic and trade relations globally.

Born in Mexico City in 1953, Dr. Castañeda received undergraduate degrees from both Princeton University and Universite de Paris-I (Pantheon-Sorbonne), an M.A. from Ecole Pratique de Hautes Etudes, Paris I, and his Ph.D. in the History of Economics from the University of Paris.

He has taught at Mexico's National Autonomous University (UNAM), Princeton and Berkeley. Dr. Castañeda was a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (1985-87), and was a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research and Writing Grant Recipient (1989-1991).

Among his many books are Utopia Unarmed: The Latin American Left after the Cold War (1993), The Mexican Shock (1995), Compañero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara (1997), and Perpetuating Power: How Mexican Presidents Were Chosen (2000).

Dr. Castañeda is a regular columnist for the Mexican daily Reforma, The Los Angeles Times, and Newsweek International.