Ignacio Arana Araya
Assistant Professor Carnegie Mellon University
- Pittsburgh PA
Ignacio Arana Araya studies how personality traits and other individual differences of heads of government impact executive governance.
Biography
He is currently writing the book The Psychology of Presidents, under contract with Cambridge University Press. His first book, Presidential Personalities and Constitutional Power Grabs in Latin America, 1945-2021, was recently published by Oxford University Press. His work has been published in The American Journal of Political Science, The Journal of Politics, Political Psychology, Democratization, Journal of Legislative Studies, Latin American Politics and Society, Journal of Law and Courts, Latin American Perspectives, América Latina Hoy, Revista de Ciencia Política, Bolivian Studies Journal, and Política. He has also published or has forthcoming book chapters in Oxford University Press, Springer, and FLACSO.
Arana is an affiliated faculty at CMU’s Center for Informed Democracy & Social-Cybersecurity (IDeaS), part of the Democratic Erosion consortium, Chile’s country expert for Freedom House since 2016, and columnist for latinoamerica21.com. He also runs https://latinos-pittsburgh.com, a bilingual resource for Pittsburgh’s Latino community.
At the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology, Arana has benefitted from working with more than sixty-five research assistants developing projects such as the World Leaders Database Project, a database that contains biographical information about the nearly 2,000 leaders that have governed countries around the world since 1970.
For the 2021-2022 academic year, he received the Provost’s Inclusive Teaching Fellowship, which helped the students in his Comparative Politics class, one of the largest in CMIST, feel empowered to participate.
Areas of Expertise
Media Appearances
Keiko Fujimori: bidding to turn dynasty into destiny in Peru
The Loop online
2026-05-26
Peru's most polarising politician is making an extraordinary fourth bid for the country’s presidency. Carolina Guerrero Valencia and Ignacio Arana Araya discuss how Keiko built her career on dynastic inheritance and the First Lady role: two shortcuts to power that push fragile democracies toward soft patrimonialism.
Washington’s Blind Spot in Latin America
International Policy Digest online
2026-05-22
Ignacio Arana Araya, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon’s Institute for Strategy and Technology, argues in his book Presidential Personalities and Constitutional Power Grabs in Latin America, 1945–2021, that U.S. policymakers often underestimate the role individual leaders play. In a region dominated by presidential systems, leadership style can shape national trajectories in ways that formal institutions alone cannot.
Presidential Personalities with Ignacio Arana Araya
35 West Podcast online
2026-04-30
In this episode, Christopher Hernandez-Roy sits down with Ignacio Arana Araya, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University and author of the book Presidential Personalities and Constitutional Power Grabs in Latin America, 1945-2021. Together, they discuss common trends in presidential power grabs, risk factors, and how institutions can guard against these.
Democratic backsliding or a blip?: Chile’s Kast withdraws from power transition talks
Latin America Reports online
2026-03-06
Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University Ignacio Arana Araya tells Latin America Reports that by making his grievances public and halting the meetings, Kast is breaking with a “cherished informal institution.”
Cilia Flores and the role of first lady in Latin America
DW online
2026-01-21
"From a political perspective, if it's a harmonious relationship, the first lady has advantages in being the president's most influential advisor. She knows him better than anyone, it's a relationship based on love, and therefore not instrumental, and she's the first and last face the head of government sees each day," Ignacio Arana, assistant professor of Political Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, told DW.
Media
Social
Accomplishments
APSA Annual Meeting Travel Grant, American Political Science Association
2018
LASA Annual Conference Travel Grant, Latin American Studies Association
2019
Óscar Godoy Prize, Chilean Political Science Association
2023
Provost’s Inclusive Teaching Fellowship, Carnegie Mellon University
2021-2022
Education
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
B.A.
Journalism and Mass Communication
2002
University of Chile
M.A.
Political Science
2007
University of Pittsburgh
Ph.D.
Political Science
Affiliations
- American Political Science Association
- International Political Science Association
- Latin American Studies Association
- Chilean Political Science Association
Languages
- Spanish
- English
Articles
Dominant Personality and Politically Inexperienced Presidents Challenge Term Limits
Journal of Politics2023
Research has found that the context in which presidents govern explains the relaxation of term limits. However, presidents have strong motivations to retain power, and a minority of leaders from different world regions have actively attempted to overstay in office. I propose that the individual differences of the presidents explain why some of them challenge their term limits. Building on semistructured interviews with former presidents, I hypothesize that leaders who have a dominant personality and are politically inexperienced are more likely to attempt to overstay in office.
When do first ladies run for office? Lessons from Latin America
Latin American Politics and Society2022
Between 1999 and 2016, 20 former first ladies ran 26 times for the presidency, vice presidency, or Congress in Latin America. Despite the growing importance of this unique type of candidate, political analysts routinely describe them as mere delegates of ex-presidents. We argue that this view has overlooked the political trajectory of former first ladies, and we claim that women with elected political experience should be regarded as politicians who use the ceremonial role of first lady as a platform to enhance their careers. We hypothesize that first ladies with elected political experience are more likely to run for office as soon as they leave the executive branch.
The Quest for Uncontested Power: Presidents’ Personalities and Democratic Erosion in Latin America, 1945-2012
Political Psychology2022
There is a growing scholarly consensus that overreaching heads of government are subverting democracies across the globe. However, the characteristics of these leaders remain unclear. This article examines a type of overreaching presidential behavior that has been commonplace in Latin America: between 1945 and 2012, 25 presidents from 14 countries tried to change their respective constitutions to increase their powers. Building on personality research and semistructured interviews conducted with former presidents, this article proposes that risk taking and assertive leaders are more likely to try to increase their powers.
The Personalities of Presidents as Independent Variables
Political Psychology2021
The debate about the relative importance of the personality traits of presidents has a long history. Until the mid‐1970s, scholars of the presidency extensively focused on the uniqueness of the individuals that held office. However, the difficulty in capturing presidential personalities and measuring their impact on executive politics led to a significant quantitative shift that focused more on the institutions within which presidents operate. This change produced a long‐lasting divide between researchers interested in the “institutional” presidency and those focused on the “personal” presidency. I propose to integrate both approaches by incorporating insights from differential psychology to treat the personality traits of presidents as independent variables.
Judicial reshuffles and women justices in Latin America
American Journal of Political Science2021
Can weak judicial institutions facilitate the advancement of women to the high courts? We explore the relationship between weak institutions and gender diversification by analyzing the consequences of judicial reshuffles in Latin America. Our theory predicts that institutional disruptions will facilitate the appointment of women justices, but only when left parties control the nomination process. We test this argument using difference‐in‐differences and dynamic panel models for 18 Latin American countries between 1961 and 2014. The analysis offers support for our hypothesis, but gains in gender diversification are modest in size and hard to sustain over time.
