American and Comparative Constitutionalism, Public Law, and Democratic Backsliding.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science
The George Washington University
Paz Avila, Ph.D.
Biography
Dr. Paz Avila is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science at The George Washington University. As a political scientist and legal scholar, her interdisciplinary research explores the resilience and legitimacy of constitutional systems across democratic and hybrid regimes, with a regional focus on Latin America.
Dr. Avila has served as a law clerk at the Constitutional Court of Ecuador, a Visiting Professional at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Costa Rica, and a Visiting Scholar at Boston College Law School. She previously taught at the University of Texas at Austin, in both the Department of Government and the School of Law, as well as several universities across Latin America.
Education
Research
Dr. Avila’s interdisciplinary research explores the resilience and legitimacy of constitutional systems across democratic and hybrid regimes, with a regional focus on Latin America. Her work draws on comparative constitutional law and political science to examine how constitutions endure, erode, or collapse under political pressure.
Publications
Under review
The Performance Trap: A Novel Theory of Constitutional Legitimacy in Fragile Democracies
The Nuclear Option: Why Legislative Crises Drive Constitutional Mortality in Latin America
Working papers
Why Some Constitutional Replacements Fail and Others Succeed: A Comparative Analysis from Latin America
Presidential Accountability and Prosecution: A Comparative Analysis of Latin America and the United States
Book project
A Theory of Constitutional Legitimacy: The Foundations of Constitutional Strength
Shorter articles & book reviews
The Dilemma Between Constitutional Change and Constitutional Veneration
34 Díkaion, no. 1, 2025. Reviewing Richard Albert, Constitutional Amendments: Making, Breaking, and Changing Constitutions (2019). In Spanish.
Mapping Constitutional Dismemberment
Nat’l L. Sch. India Rev. (2021). Reviewing Richard Albert, Constitutional Amendments: Making, Breaking, and Changing Constitutions (2019).
Publications in Spanish
The Rights of Indigenous People: Between Diversity and International Human Rights
28 Am. U. Int’l L. Rev. 943 (2013).
Freedom of Expression: Debates, Scope and New Challenges
OHCHR & UNESCO 2011.
Teaching
- Constitutional Law & Politics I
- Comparative Constitutionalism
- Constitutional Principles
Media
On the Justice Department probes into antisemitism and diversity in higher education, 2026.
Curriculum Vitae
Photos
