In the golden age of Latin America’s labor movement, unions were the main representatives of the popular interest and, for many citizens, unions were their main tie to the political arena. But the neoliberal reforms of the 1980s sent many workers into the informal sector – work that is untaxed, unregulated and, historically, underrepresented politically. Recently, however, organizing has taken on new forms among Latin American workers, including the emergence of informal sector unions and peasant unions. This research analyzes how these new worker organizations interact with political parties and how they can help parties connect with voters and take root in society.

Mathias is a Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, a Research Associate at the Center on the Politics of Development (CPD), and a Research Fellow at the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS). His research interests include political parties, political representation, democratization, political economy of development, multi-method research, and causal inference. His dissertation research draws primarily on field research in Latin America.

For more, see Mathias’s personal site.