Silvia Borzutzky

Teaching Professor of International Relations and Politics

Silvia Borzutzky is Teaching Professor of Political Science and International Relations and has been at Heinz College since 2001.

Borzutzky serves in the Editorial Board of several journals including Social and Public Policy Review, The Journal of Societal and Social Policy, and Poverty and Public Policy Journal. She is also the Associate Editor for Latin America of the International Journal of Social Welfare and serves as the Contributing Editor for the Chile/ Political Economy section of the Handbook of Latin American Studies published by The United States Library of Congress. She is also Vice-president and co-founder of Poverty and Public Policy Caucus and as Associate Editor of the Berkshire International Encyclopedia of Social Policy.

At the Heinz College, she serves in the MSPPM Core Committee and is Co-Director of the Trade and Development Concentration.

Courses Taught

90-700 - Heinz Journal
90-702 - Poverty Reduction and Social Policies in Developing Countries
90-703 - Gender, Politics and Policies in the US and Across the World
90-704 - The Racial and Gender Impact of U.S. Social Policies
90-713 - Policy and Politics an International Perspective
90-714 - Policy and Politics in American Institutions
90-810 - Racial and Environmental Social Justice Movements
94-859 - International Crisis Negotiation Exercise

Publications

Additional Information

Education
Teaching

Borzutzky teaches courses in International Relations, American Politics, Human Rights, Women and Politics, and Social Policy.
Research

Latin America’s struggle with democracy and dictatorship has been reflected in the region’s socioeconomic policies, its human rights policies, and its approaches to the international economic system. It is this experience, which has marked Borzutzky’s research and teaching interests. Borzutzky writes about social policies because they are an expression of the nature of the political system and of the political processes and actors that generated those policies. Social policies also serve to understand the government’s impact on society and they are an expression of the prevalent political and economic philosophy followed by the political leaders.
Because of her concern with the relationship between government and society, she is also interested in human rights issues. The study of human rights, specifically human rights policies, or transitional justice policies, provides another venue to understand the impact that the government has on society and societal responses to the abuses. Moreover, human rights policies cut across the domestic and international fields, combining her interests in domestic politics and international relations, as well as her interest on democracy and dictatorship. The focus of her research has been South America and specifically Chile.