Philippe Schmitter was born in Washington, D.C., in 1936. He earned a BA in international relations, international economics, history, and fine arts from Dartmouth College in 1957. Schmitter went on to continue his studies in Mexico and Switzerland, eventually getting his Ph.D. in comparative politics from the University of California Berkeley in 1967. Schmitter was first drawn to Brazil due to contact with Brazilian art and music and visited the country during its experiment with democracy in the early 60s. At Berkeley, Schmitter focused on Latin America, writing his dissertation on “Development and Interest Politics in Brazil from 1930–1965.” He was sent to Rio by Berkeley in 1965 to teach at the Instituto de Ciências Socias da Universidade do Brasil, in an initiative closely tied to the Alliance for Progress. The institution was renowned for its leftists and association with Marxism and dependency theory. During his time there, Schmitter routinely had his mail opened by government authorities and was even accused of being a CIA agent. This was probably due to his association with the institute he was teaching at, as well as his research on trade unions and corporatism. Schmitter also taught in São Paulo, at the Escola de Sociologia e Politica. Three months after he left Brazil, the institute where he taught in Rio was shut down as a subversive institution. Schmitter returned to Brazil in 1969 for research, now as an assistant professor at the University of Chicago. It was at this time that he wrote his ‘urgent report’ to Latin Americanists about the academic repression that was becoming prevalent throughout the country, an act that angered Brazilian authorities and got Schmitter’s name on the list of Americans prohibited from returning to Brazil. The article sparked vocal opposition to the military regime among academics in the United States.

Schmitter went on to a successful career in academia, lecturing at Stanford and Harvard among numerous other prestigious institutions. He’s published books and articles on topics varying from regional integration in Western Europe to transition from authoritarian rule in Latin America. Today he is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Political and Social Science at the European University Institute.

Read an interview with Philippe Schmitter by James N. Green.