Kevin Zapata Celestino

(MENAFN- The Conversation)

LSE Fellow in the Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science

Profile Articles Activity

I have relevant experience working on individual and multidisciplinary research projects with a strong focus on social and public policy in Latin America. For my doctoral thesis, I investigated how a policy community populated by renowned scholars, domestic policymakers, and international consultants was able to frame Mexico’s anti-poverty agenda for more than two decades by exercising direct influence on the policy elite.

Previously, I was part of the research consortium “Solidarity in Times of a Pandemic + Latin America” coordinated by the University of Vienna. This project sought to understand the social impact of the pandemic in twelve Latin American and Caribbean countries and to compile the experiences of local communities. Similarly, I worked as a research consultant at Oxfam on the project “The Political Economy of Fiscal Injustice in Mexico,” where I investigated the state capture mechanisms employed by big corporations to preserve their economic interests.

Some of my recent research concerns what I call “clandestine welfare” in Latin America. I am interested in identifying and explaining the mechanisms used by illicit organizations (e.g., drug trafficking groups, rebel groups, and gangs) in the region to provide welfare to individuals and communities that lack access to formal social protection. Additionally, I am currently working with colleagues in Mexico on a project aimed at understanding school bullying from the perpetrators’ perspective. The goal is to promote better-tailored interventions to reduce the school bullying pandemic in the country.

Experience

–present LSE Fellow in the Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science

Education

2021 The University of Edinburgh, Social Policy

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