By Sabrina Warner, 2025 PICS Intern on
During James Loxton’s early life, he viewed learning Spanish and understanding Latin America as simply personal interests. However, his 2006-2007 PiLA fellowship in Chile at Human Rights Watch and the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLASCO) marked a “punto inflexion,” the turning point that inspired him to study Latin America and authoritarianism professionally. He currently teaches comparative politics at the University of Sydney in Australia, and has published numerous books and articles on authoritarianism and Latin America.
Originally from a small town in Canada, Loxton’s worldview expanded after studying for two years in Maharashtra, India at the Mahindra United World College, an international school with students from across the world. He made various friends from Latin America who told stories about their families’ lives under military dictatorships. These friendships drove his decision to learn Spanish at Princeton and improve his language skills through study abroad programs in Guatemala and Peru. While Loxton participated in PiLA to further understand Latin America before pursuing a more philosophical PhD in political theory, his experience led him to research comparative politics with a focus on the region.
During Loxton’s fellowship at Human Rights Watch in Chile, the organization extensively covered Venezuela’s slide into authoritarianism under its democratically elected president, Hugo Chavez. Chavez had removed the license of RCTV, the country’s largest news station, and had enacted laws clamping down on NGOs. As an intern reading the news every day, Loxton noticed that similar laws had passed in Peru and Russia around the same time. He began to realize that “democracy could die not just at the hands of men in guns, such as in Chile in 1973, but also at the hands of men in suits—democratically elected leaders who win power then use the power of the state to destroy democracy from within… including in Venezuela after Hugo Chavez’s election in 1998.” Loxton recognized that Venezuela was following the authoritarian playbook: replacing judges, packing the courts, interfering with elections, and exploiting other loopholes in the name of protecting the true interests of the people. And yet, individuals in many circles viewed him as a leader of 21st-century socialism, holding sympathies that they later tried to write out of their personal biographies.
Loxton also observed political sympathies on a larger public scale in Chile. Historically, a large minority of Chileans approved of dictator Augusto Pinochet’s 1973-1990 regime, with 44% supporting his continued rule in the 1988 plebiscite vote. Even 30 years later in a full democracy, nearly one-third of Chileans viewed Pinochet as the nation’s best president– a loyalty and source of tension which Loxton witnessed during his fellowship. He remembers one day hearing extended bursts of honking outside his apartment. News had spread that Pinochet had just died, and Chileans began celebrating in the streets, throwing a massive party in one of Santiago’s largest public squares. They opposed his regime of human rights abuses, torture, disappearances, and embezzlement of millions of dollars. Yet the very next day, when Loxton tried to view Pinochet’s casket, the line was hours long. Nearly 60,000 people mourned and paid their respects at the wake, a strong base of support despite celebratory opposition. The event helped him better visualize the political climate: “It’s one thing to hear a poll that says 33% of Chileans describe Pinochet as the best president the county has ever had, and another to actually see it with your own eyes— thousands of people who have turned out to pay respects to this former dictator who killed people.”
Loxton also observed more concrete remnants of authoritarianism in Chile’s political system. First, the country still uses the constitution imposed by dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1980. Additionally, the Independent Democratic Union (UDI), a right-wing Pinochetista party that draws on the dictator’s legacy, has also remained popular in legislative elections, continuing to shape policy long after Chile’s return to democracy.
Through exposure to growing authoritarianism in Venezuela and authoritarianism’s lingering impact on Chile during his PiLA fellowship, Loxton’s personal interest in Latin America developed into a truly professional interest. He applied for PhDs in comparative politics rather than political theory. Since then, nearly all of his work has addressed authoritarianism and its legacy across the world, with a particular focus on Latin America. For his dissertation, he researched authoritarian successor parties such as the UDI, which have successfully contested elections in democracies. He also credits his PiLA fellowship with helping him become truly fluent in Spanish and allowing him to meet his wife, Julietta, who was also a recent university graduate when they met at the same hostel during some of his travels.
During his adventures, Loxton explored Latin America’s unique landscapes. He traveled north to the Atacama Desert, the driest desert in the world, to visit the impressive jagged rock formations. On a three-day Jeep trip in the Uyuni salt flats in neighboring Bolivia, he observed a strange but magnificent, Antarctica-like whiteness extending outward in all directions, broken only by dry, beige islands of tall cacti.
His appreciation extended beyond the region’s scenery to its culture, including Las Fiestas Patrias. Starting September 18th, the nearly week-long festival celebrates the beginning of the Chilean independence movement and is as culturally significant as Christmas. The average Chilean gains almost two kilos feasting on empanadas and wine with family.
Loxton recommends that fellows facilitate their own cultural enrichment by diving into the language. He notes that “Latin America is still one the parts of the world where English is not widely spoken. So you cannot be part of any Latin American country in any meaningful sense unless you are truly fluent in the language, with a huge vocabulary and a good accent.” To that end, he recommends that fellows avoid other native English speakers and immerse themselves in the language and culture as much as possible.
He also acknowledges that after their fellowship, fellows may not end up maintaining a direct connection with Latin America through academia, work, or travel. However, reading the news and headlines–whether from newspapers in your fellowship country or BBC’s world news in Spanish–can help to keep up the language skills, and stay updated on events and changes in the region.
Loxton’s fellowship directed his career toward studying authoritarianism in Latin America and teaching comparative politics. For an accessible overview of the topic, check out his new book, Authoritarianism: A Very Short Introduction, on Amazon or Oxford University Press.