David Cerero Guerra

I am a political scientist and an incoming Assistant Professor in the Public Administration Division at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE) in Mexico City. I hold a PhD in Political Science from Yale University, where my dissertation was approved with department distinction.

My research examines how crime and violence shape governance and how citizens respond to state and non-state actors. My book project draws on interviews with gang members and street-level bureaucrats, original surveys, and ethnographic fieldwork to examine how criminal groups that govern urban communities interact with state service providers.

More broadly, my research uses a wide variety of methods to explore the roots and causes of violence, crime, and peace, as well as their downstream effects on citizens’ perceptions of state and non-state actors.

Before graduate school, I worked on security and development projects with Innovations for Poverty Action and the Colombian government, and held research assistant positions on projects led by Harvard University and the World Bank.

I hold a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Economics from Universidad de los Andes.

My research has been funded by the Fulbright Program and the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University, and has received the 2025 Best Paper Prize from the Quality of Government Institute at the University of Gothenburg.

For additional information, see my CV or send me an email to david.cerero@yale.edu