Ezequiel González Ocantos

BA MPhil Camb, PhD Notre Dame

Academic Staff Academic Office Holders

Professor of Comparative and Judicial Politics, DPIR

Professorial Fellow, Nuffield College

AFFILIATION

Government and Politics Network

College

Nuffield College

Students

ezequiel.gonzalez@politics.ox.ac.uk

Office address

E9, Nuffield College, New Rd, Oxford OX1 1NF

Downloads

Ezequeil Gonzalez-Ocantos - CV.pdf (307.28 KB)

I am Professor of Comparative & Judicial Politics in the Department of Politics and International Relations, and a Professorial Fellow of Nuffield College.

My primary research agenda is in the field of comparative judicial politics. I am particularly interested in the determinants of judicial and prosecutorial behaviour in high-stakes cases of macro-criminality, including human rights violations and grand corruption. I've published four books on these topics: Shifting Legal Visions: Judicial Change and Human Rights Trials in Latin America (Cambridge University Press, 2016), which won the Herman Pritchett Best Book Award from APSA's Law and Courts Section, the best book award from ISA's Human Rights Section, and the Donna Lee Van Cott Best Book Award from LASA's Political Institutions Section; The Politics of Transitional Justice in Latin America: Power, Norms and Capability Building (Cambridge University Press, 2020); Prosecutors, Voters, and the Criminalisation of Corruption in Latin America (w/ Paula Muñoz, Nara Pavao & Viviana Baraybar; Cambridge University Press, 2023), which won the Charles Levine Memorial Book Prize from IPSA and received an honourable mention from LASA's Donna Lee Van Cott Best Book Award committee; and The Limits of Judicialization: From Progress to Backlash in Latin America (co-edited w/ Sandra Botero & Daniel Brinks; Cambridge University Press, 2022).

I've also published on judicial dialogue and backlash in the Inter-American System of Human Rights; the relationship between courts and public opinion in Latin America and Europe; the political economy of vote buying and electoral intimidation; and qualitative methods. My peer-reviewed articles have appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Studies, European Journal of Political Research, International Studies Quarterly, Latin American Research Review, Law & Policy, Law & Society Review, Law & Social Inquiry, Journal of Peace Research, Sociological Methods & Research, The International Journal of Constitutional Law and The International Journal of Human Rights.

Since 2021 I co-edit Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research, the flagship publication of APSA's Qualitative and Multi-Methods Research Section.

I received a PhD in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame in 2012. My doctoral thesis won APSA's 2013 Edward S. Corwin Award for the best dissertation in the field of Public Law. In 2018 I won the Philip Leverhulme Prize in Politics and International Relations, which recognises "the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising."

Research

Comparative Judicial Politics
International Courts, Transitional Justice & Human Rights
Corruption
Comparative Politics of Latin America
Qualitative Methods in Political Science

Teaching

Research Design in Comparative Political Science (MPhil/DPhil, MT)
Qualitative Methods (MPhil/DPhil)
Comparative Government (PPE/MPhil)
I am happy to supervise students interested in comparative judicial politics, international courts and law, transitional justice, human rights, corruption, qualitative methods and Latin American politics

Publications

Journal Articles

2023

Feierherd, G., Gonzalez Ocantos, E. and Tuñón, G. (2023) “Witch hunts? Electoral cycles and corruption lawsuits in Argentina”, British Journal of Political Science, 54(3), pp. 629–648.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1017/S000712342300042X

Gonzalez Ocantos, E. and Melendez, C. (2023) “Rethinking the role of issue-voting in referenda: conjoint and vote choice analyses of preferences for constitutional change in Chile”, Comparative Politics, 56(2), pp. 219–242.

Available at https://doi.org/10.5129/001041523X16964369022295

2022

Mariela Ansolabehere, K., Botero, S. and Gonzalez Ocantos, E. (2022) “Conceptualizing and Measuring Legal Culture: Evidence from a Survey of Mexican Federal Judges”, POLITICA Y GOBIERNO, 29(2).

2021

Gonzalez Ocantos, E. and Sandholtz, W. (2021) “Constructing a regional human rights legal order: The Inter-American Court, national courts, and judicial dialogue, 1988–2014”, International Journal of Constitutional Law, 19(5), pp. 1559–1596.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/moab094

Gonzalez Ocantos, E. and Sandholtz, W. (2021) “The sources of resilience of international human rights courts: the case of the inter-American system”, Law and Social Inquiry, 47(1), pp. 95–131.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1017/lsi.2021.22

2020

Dinas, E. and Gonzalez Ocantos, E. (2020) “Defending the European court of human rights: Experimental evidence from Britain”, European Journal of Political Research, 60(2), pp. 397–417.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12404

2019

Gonzalez Ocantos, E. et al. (2019) “Carrots and sticks: Experimental evidence of vote buying and voter intimidation in Guatemala”, Journal of Peace Research [Preprint].

Gonzalez Ocantos, E. and Dinas, E. (2019) “Compensation and compliance: Sources of public acceptance of the U.K. Supreme Court’s Brexit decision”, Law and Society Review, 53(3), pp. 889–919.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.12421

Gonzalez Ocantos, E. and Laporte, J. (2019) “Process tracing and the problem of missing data”, Sociological Methods and Research, 50(3), pp. 1407–1435.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124119826153

2018

Gonzalez Ocantos, E., Kiewiet de Jonge, C. and Meseguer, C. (2018) “Remittances and vote buying”, Latin American Research Review, 53(4), pp. 689–707.

Available at https://doi.org/10.25222/larr.396

Gonzalez Ocantos, E. (2018) “Communicative entrepreneurs: the case of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ dialogue with national judges”, International Studies Quarterly, 62(4).

Available at https://doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqy040

2015

Gonzalez Ocantos, E. (2015) “Evaluations of human rights trials and trust in judicial institutions: evidence from Fujimori’s trial in Peru”, International Journal of Human Rights, 20(4), pp. 445–470.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2015.1107051

2013

Gonzalez Ocantos, E., de Jonge, C. and Nickerson, D. (2013) “The conditionality of vote-buying norms: experimental evidence from Latin America”, American Journal of Political Science, 58(1), pp. 197–211.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12047

Books

2023

GONZALEZ OCANTOS, E. et al. (2023) Prosecutors, Voters, and the Criminalization of Corruption in Latin America. Cambridge University Press.

2019

GONZALEZ OCANTOS, E. (2019) The Politics of Transitional Justice in Latin America. Cambridge University Press.

c-book

2022

GONZALEZ OCANTOS, E., Botero, S. and Brinks, D. (eds.) (2022) “The Limits of Judicialization”. Cambridge University Press.

Chapters

2022

Baraybar, V. and Gonzalez Ocantos, E. (2022) “Prosecutorial agency, backlash and resistance in the Peruvian chapter of Lava Jato”, in S. Botero, D. Brinks, and E. Gonzalez Ocantos (eds.) The Limits of Judicialization: Progress and Backlash in Latin American Politics. Cambridge University Press, pp. 314–340.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009093859.013