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

2022

Ansolabehere, K., Botero, S. and Ocantos, E. (2022) “Conceptualizing and Measuring Legal Culture: Evidence from a Survey of Mexican Federal Judges Conceptualizar y medir la cultura legal”, Politica y Gobierno, 29(2).

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).

2019

GONZALEZ OCANTOS, E. and LAPORTE, J. (2019) “Process Tracing and the Problem of Missing Data”, Sociological Methods and Research, n/a, pp. 1–29.

2018

Gonzalez Ocantos, E., Meseguer, C. and Kiewiet de Jonge, C. (2018) “Remittances and Vote Buying”, Latin American Research Review [Preprint].

Gonzalez Ocantos, E. (2018) “Communicative Entrepreneurs: The Case of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ Dialogue with National Judges”, International Studies Quarterly [Preprint].

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

2016

Gonzalez Ocantos, E. (2016) “Evaluations of Human Rights Trials and Trust in Judicial Institutions: Evidence from Fujimori’s Trial in Peru”, The International Journal of Human Rights, 20(4), pp. 445–470.

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

2014

González Ocantos, E. (2014) “Persuade them or oust them: crafting judicial change and transitional justice in Argentina”, Comparative Politics, 46(4), pp. 479–498.

Available at https://doi.org/10.5129/001041514812522725

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

GONZALEZ OCANTOS, E. and Melendez, C. (no date) “Rethinking the Role of Issue-Voting in Referenda: Conjoint and Vote Choice Analyses of Preferences for Constitutional Change in Chile”, Comparative politics [Preprint].

GONZALEZ OCANTOS, E. and Morcillo, A. (no date) “Philanthropic Foundations and Transnational Activist Networks: Ford and the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights”, International Studies Quarterly [Preprint].

GONZALEZ OCANTOS, E. and Sandholtz, W. (no date) “The Sources of Resilience of International Human Rights Courts: The Case of the Inter-American System”, Law and Social Inquiry [Preprint].

Gonzalez Ocantos, E. and Dinas, E. (no date) “Compensation and Compliance: Sources of Public Acceptance of the UK Supreme Court’s Brexit Decision”, Law and Society Review [Preprint].

GONZALEZ OCANTOS, E. and Sandholtz, W. (no date) “Constructing a Regional Human Rights Legal Order: The Inter-American Court, National Courts, and Judicial Dialogue, 1988 – 2014”, International Journal of Constitutional Law [Preprint].

GONZALEZ OCANTOS, E., Feierherd, G. and Tuñón, G. (no date) “Witch Hunts? Electoral Cycles and Corruption Lawsuits in Argentina”, British Journal of Political Science [Preprint].

GONZALEZ OCANTOS, E. and Dinas, E. (no date) “Defending the European Court of Human Rights: Experimental Evidence from Britain”, European Journal of Political Research [Preprint].

GONZALEZ OCANTOS, E. (no date) “Carrots and Sticks: Experimental Evidence of Vote Buying and Voter Intimidation in Guatemala”, Journal of Peace Research: an interdisciplinary and international quarterly of scholarly work in peace research [Preprint].

Books

2023

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

2020

Gonzalez-Ocantos, E. (2020) The politics of transitional justice in Latin America: Power, norms, and capacity building, pp. 1–73.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108869973

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

GONZALEZ OCANTOS, E. and Baraybar Hidalgo, V. (2022) “Prosecutorial Agency, Backlash and Resistance in the Peruvian Chapter of Lava Jato”, in E. GONZALEZ OCANTOS, S. Botero, and D. Brinks (eds.) The Limits of Judicialization: From Progress to Backlash in Latin America. Cambridge University Press.

2016

Gonzalez-Ocantos, E. (2016) “Legal Preferences and Strategic Litigation”, in SHIFTING LEGAL VISIONS: JUDICIAL CHANGE AND HUMAN RIGHTS TRIALS IN LATIN AMERICA, pp. 27–70.

Gonzalez-Ocantos, E. (2016) “Mexico An Untamed Judiciary and the Failure of Criminal Prosecutions”, in SHIFTING LEGAL VISIONS: JUDICIAL CHANGE AND HUMAN RIGHTS TRIALS IN LATIN AMERICA, pp. 206–268.

Gonzalez-Ocantos, E. (2016) “From Unresponsive to Responsive Judiciaries”, in SHIFTING LEGAL VISIONS: JUDICIAL CHANGE AND HUMAN RIGHTS TRIALS IN LATIN AMERICA, p. 1 - +.

Gonzalez-Ocantos, E. (2016) “Comparative Perspectives on the Problem of Legal Preferences”, in SHIFTING LEGAL VISIONS: JUDICIAL CHANGE AND HUMAN RIGHTS TRIALS IN LATIN AMERICA, pp. 269–289.

Gonzalez-Ocantos, E. (2016) “Argentina Pedagogical Interventions and Replacement Strategies in the Struggle for Human Rights”, in SHIFTING LEGAL VISIONS: JUDICIAL CHANGE AND HUMAN RIGHTS TRIALS IN LATIN AMERICA, pp. 71–140.

Gonzalez-Ocantos, E. (2016) “Peru Pedagogical Interventions and Human Rights Trials in Unfriendly Territory”, in SHIFTING LEGAL VISIONS: JUDICIAL CHANGE AND HUMAN RIGHTS TRIALS IN LATIN AMERICA, pp. 141–205.