Enrico La Viña

Enrico Antonio B. La Viña is a Ph.D. candidate in political science at the University of California, Davis. His research focuses on political violence, democratization, and comparative political economy in Southeast Asia. His dissertation project asks why, despite safeguards like civil society, professional bureaucracies, international organizations, and elections, democratic governments evade repercussions and even profit from state repression. He shows that in situations of democratic backsliding, democratic processes and institutions could, paradoxically, fuel rather than curb state repression. Combining micro-level quantitative data on security agents and local governments with interviews of policymakers, his study analyzes the war on drugs in the Philippines to shed light on how, why, and when democratic governments use repression for political ends. Rico has a B.A. in philosophy from Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines and an M.A. in international political economy and development from Fordham University, where he was awarded a presidential fellowship. He has served as a consultant to organizations like the United Nations Development Program, Open Society Foundations, and the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. Previously, Rico was a 2023-2024 Peace Scholar with the United States Institute of Peace.