Erika Moreno, Ph.D.
erikamoreno@creighton.edu
Associate Professor
Creighton University
Year of PhD: 2001
Phone: 4022802388
Address: Department of Political Science 2500 California Plz
City: Omaha, Nebraska - 68178
Country: United States
About Me:
Dr. Moreno is trained as a comparative political scientist, with a specialization in Latin American politics. Her scholarly interests focus on democratic institutions and inter-branch relations and their implications for democratic accountability and representation.
Moreno's work on Latin American politics has appeared in a variety of venues including book manuscripts, peer-reviewed research articles, reviews, and book chapters. Her work has appeared in peer reviewed journals, including Comparative Political Studies, Electoral Studies, the Bulletin of Latin American Research and Legislative Studies Quarterly. She has also contributed to chapters in edited book manuscripts published by Notre Dame press, Oxford University Press, and Pennsylvania State Press on topics that include the Colombian peace process, government institutions and accountability, and the Colombian political system.
A generous Haddix Faculty Research Grant in 2014 facilitated the creation of a new dataset and several published studies on the role of the Defensoria del Pueblo (Ombudsman) on human rights and accountability in Latin America. These studies included several regional analyses of the tangible and beneficial effects of these institutions on several key human rights, published in Latin American Politics and Society and Human Rights Review in 2016. These studies have built the foundation for her forthcoming book, From Justitieombudsman to Defensor del Pueblo: Human Rights Ombudsman in Latin America (Forthcoming 2020).
Although her primary focus is democracy and its institutions, she has also worked on topics that have addressed stability of regimes (democracy and autocracy), political transitions, and the role of regime characteristics on economic outcomes. For instance, Dr. Moreno was part of the Creighton University team (with Associate Political Science Professor Richard Witmer, Associate Dean of the Law School Mike Kelly, Director of the Werner Center, Patrick Borchers) that wrote the Report on the Resolution of Outstanding Property Claims Between Cuba and the United States (Creighton University Press 2007). The report which proposes the creation of a mechanism to settle outstanding property claims by Americans against the Cuban government, was commissioned by the United States Agency of International Development and supported by a $750,000 grant. That line of research culminated in an edited volume, The Cuba-U.S. Bilateral Relationship:New Pathways and Policy Choices (Fall 2019), with M. Kelly and R. Witmer.
In her spare time, Dr. Moreno enjoys running, kayaking, camping, and spending time with her family.
Research Interests
Comparative Political Institutions
Latin American And Caribbean Politics
Comparative Political Institutions
Political Parties and Interest Groups
Countries of Interest
Colombia
Venezuela
Bolivia
Cuba
Chile
Publications:
Books Written:
The main function of the ombudsman office, when it was created in Sweden in the nineteenth century, was to oversee state administration. Across Latin America, however, the ombudsman conducts oversight, upholds human rights protections, performs anti-corruption tasks, and is an advocate for environmental protection. They may go by different titles, sometimes referred to as the Defensor del Pueblo or Procurador de Derechos Humanos, but they are all examples of a ‘hybrid’ office, unique to Latin America (Reif 2004; Reif 2011; UNDP 2010), that carries out multiple mandates beyond government accountability. This book provides an in-depth examination of the Defensor del Pueblo across Latin America that focuses on its ability to ‘speak truth to power’ (independence) even when it challenges the status quo and its representatives. In order to make sense of the Defensor’s role in modern democratic systems, I employ a principal-agent model of behavior and delegation. After all, these offices were created, appointed, dismissed by elected officials (presidents and elected representatives). What is more, ombudsmen are dependent on elected politicians and international donor agencies that fund the Defensor’s annual budget. Since the Defensor del pueblo is effectively an agent of both elected officials and international interests her independence and effectiveness is an inherently political question. Second, this study explores regional variations in ombudsman effectiveness; in other words, how successfully is the office reaching out to the public and has it had a measurable impact on the citizenry? In addition to examining ombudsman independence across the region, this study examines the effectiveness of the Defensor del Pueblo’s outreach efforts, including their responses to citizen complaints and efforts to educate the public on human rights (including minority rights), oversight, and environmental protection. Information about caseloads and outreach activities are regularly and publicly reported as measures of effectiveness. I address both of those elements of effectiveness across two cases: Bolivia and Colombia. These case studies provide a unique opportunity to study the evolution of this agency and its impact across two neighboring countries that are similar in terms of the formal independence of this agency. The case studies provide a thick, case-specific narrative of the origins of the office, the struggles faced by the office, and the debates surrounding the effectiveness and independence of the Defensor del pueblo in both countries. This examination of the Defensor del pueblo promises to be the first systematic effort to examine this office across the entire region while still examining critical case studies. Second, this manuscript would add to the growing literature on agencies of democratic accountability in the region (Chavez 2004; Helmke 2002; Larkin 1998; Navia and Rios-Figeroa 2005; ODonnell 1999; Plattner and Schedler 1999; Uggla 2004). What is more, the effort to explore causal explanations for independence and effectiveness for ombudsmen promises to shed light on the interactions of elected officials and oversight agencies in an informative and meaningful way.
At the end of President Barack Obama's second term, it seemed that the U.S. and Cuba might be on track to normalize relations after five decades of cold war animus. These hopes appeared dashed, however, by the results of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, which brought to power a candidate that campaigned on undoing Obama's signature policies, including the rapprochement with Cuba. Several years into the Trump administration there are still several pathways that these two neighboring countries could take to either continue the rapprochement, extend the status quo, or drift further apart. Although it is not entirely clear which direction the bilateral relationship will take, given the varied and divergent political pressures that drive each of the two nations, it is clear that several key opportunities and challenges await them. Drawing insight from the political, economic, and legal spheres, this book examines possible pathways for the two cold war adversaries. Key among the issues that demand attention are unresolved property claims dating back to the 1959 revolution, establishing regularized bilateral economic relationships in multiple sectors of the economy, as well as addressing a variety of legal and political constraints in both Cuba and the United States. This volume tackles these issues by drawing on the expertise of scholars in three distinct fields--political science, economics, and law--while positing viable policy choices and the opportunities and challenges found therein.