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Gratzia Villarroel
gratzia villarroel

Gratzia Villarroel

Associate Professor of Political Science
Political Science920-562-7040

Gratzia Villarroel is an associate professor of political science and international studies, and she directs the International Studies program at St. Norbert College. She previously served as the associate dean for global affairs at SNC. Villarroel is a member of the Academic Council on the United Nations, the Latin American Studies Association and the International Studies Association. Beyond academia, she is actively involved in a number of community organizations.

Her dedication to promoting diversity and social justice is reflected in her scholarly work and her strong commitment to community involvement. Villarroel was honored with the 2021 Founder’s Award for her outstanding contributions to the college. She has been inducted into Pi Sigma Alpha (the Political Science Honor Society), Phi Beta Delta (the International Education Honor Society), and the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, which recognizes superior scholarship.

  • POLI 150/INTL 150 Introduction to International Studies
  • Xxxx Ethics and International Relations
  • POLI 350 International Relations Theory
  • POLI 353 U.S. Foreign Policy
  • POLI 355 International Organizations
  • Xxxx Globalization and the Global South
  • Xxxx Latin American Politics and Governments
  • Xxxx Politics of Developing Nations
  • Xxxx Latin American Politics through Music, Film and Literature
  • Xxxx Women, Peace and Security
  • POLI 362 North South Relations in the Contemporary World
  • INTL 400 World Issues and Conflict
  • POLI 455 The United Nations in World Politics
  • POLI/WMGS 489 Feminist Perspectives on International Relations
  • WASH 3930 Washington Semester Program

Graduate courses:

  • Xxxx Human Rights and Global Justice
  • Xxxx Globalization and the Latino Political Imagination in the 21st Century

  • B.A. – University of North Dakota (Political Science)
  • M.A. – University of South Carolina (Government and International Studies)
  • Ph.D. – University of South Carolina (Government and International Studies)
  • Santo Domingo Fellowship, David Rockefeller Center,
  • Harvard University. Research Project: “Indigenous Movements and Women’s Political Participation Under Bolvia’s Evo Morales Government”

  • Women in politics in Latin America
  • Vulnerable populations in the process of nation-building

Villarroel has published on the role of the UN Women’s Convention in Latin America, the role of indigenous women in political movements and nation-building strategies, and indigenous actors in democratic movements. She has published various interdisciplinary articles on the role of social movements and democratization in Latin America. She is currently working on the League of Nations’ role in facilitating Jewish families’ migration to Bolivia during World War II.

Publications and working papers

Villarroel, G., (2023) The Latin American Left in the 21st Century. Work in Progress.

Villarroel, G., (2023). The Brand is Crisis: A Comparative Analysis of Bolivia’s Elections in Early 21st Century in Zanj: The Journal of Critical Global South Studies, forthcoming in 2023

Villarroel, G., and J. Cervantes (2020). Indigenous Slave, Mistress, and Goddess/Mother: Mexican Nation-Building and the Heterogenous Memorialization of La Malinche. (Manuscript in Progress)

Villarroel, G. (2014). “Democracy and Artistic Production in Latin America in a Digital and Global Era” in LASA Forum, April 2014.

Villarroel, G. & Gargarella, R. (2014), “Diversifying Democracy in Latin America in the 21st Century” in LASA Forum, January 2014.

Villarroel, G., and Gargarella, R. (2013). “More Power to the Executive: the State of Latin America Democracies in the Early Part of the Twenty-First Century” in LASA Forum, October 2013.

Villarroel, G. (2011). “Bolivian Women Making the Revolution” in ReVista: The Harvard Review of Latin America in September of 2011.

Villarroel Smeall, G. (2004). “The United States and the United Nations: Unilateralism in an Era of Globalization.” In Globalization Redux: Same Name New Game, edited by Thomas Conner. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.

Villarroel Smeall, G. (2000). “Bolivia: Women's Rights, the International Women's Convention, and State Compliance” In Women's Rights: A Global View, edited by Lynn Walter. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.

Villarroel Smeall, G. (1998). “Coretta Scott King, Sandra Day O'Connor” (1998) Encyclopedia of Women in American Politics, edited. by Jeff D. Schultz and Laura Van Assendelft. Phoenix: Oryx Press.

Villarroel Smeall, G. (1994). “Women, Adamocracy, and the Bolivian Social Revolution.” Women and Revolution in the Third World, edited by Mary Ann Tetrault. Columbia, SC: South Carolina Press.