Ralph H. Espach, Ph.D.

Ralph H. Espach, Ph.D. is a senior research scientist and director of the Latin American Affairs program at CNA’s Center for Strategic Studies. Espach’s recent research includes criminal organizations in Central America, motivations of FARC members for joining and leaving the insurgency in Colombia, Brazil’s strategic and security interests and relations with the United States, the strategic implications of a U.S. shift to alternative fuels, the implications of China’s growing presence in Latin America for U.S. and regional security, and the security implications of climate change for the countries of Latin America.

Espach has been interviewed and has contributed to The Atlantic.com, ReVista: The Harvard Review of Latin America, Prensa Libre and Siglo 21 in Guatemala, and CaracolTV in Colombia. His publications include Private Environmental Regimes in Developing Countries: Globally Sown, Locally Grown (Palgrave-Macmillan Press, 2009), The Strategic Dynamics of Latin American Trade (with Vinod K. Aggarwal, Stanford University Press, 2004), Latin America in the New International System (with Joseph S. Tulchin, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2000), and Combating Corruption in Latin America (with Joseph S. Tulchin, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000). Espach holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.A. from Columbia College in New York City.