Ryan C. Berg is director of the Americas Program and head of the Future of Venezuela Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is also an adjunct professor at the Catholic University of America and visiting research fellow at the University of Oxford’s Changing Character of War Programme. His research focuses on U.S.-Latin America relations, authoritarian regimes, armed conflict, strategic competition, and trade and development issues. He also studies Latin America’s criminal groups and the region’s governance and security challenges. Previously, Dr. Berg was a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he helped lead its Latin America Studies Program. Dr. Berg has served as a research consultant to the World Bank, a Fulbright scholar in Brazil, and a visiting doctoral fellow at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. He has lived and worked in Peru and Brazil and is an expert member of the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime and the Urban Violence Research Network.
Dr. Berg has been published in a variety of peer-reviewed academic and policy-oriented journals, including The Lancet, Migration and Development, the SAIS Review of International Affairs, and the Georgetown Security Studies Review. In the popular press, his articles have appeared in CNN.com, Foreign Policy, Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, The Hill, World Politics Review, the National Interest, and RealClearWorld, among other outlets. He has appeared on Voice of America and National Public Radio and has testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Dr. Berg obtained a Ph.D. and an M.Phil. in political science and an M.Sc. in global governance and diplomacy from the University of Oxford, where he was a Senior Hulme fellow. Earlier, he obtained a B.A. in government and theology from Georgetown University. He is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and has a working knowledge of French and Slovenian.
Media Queries
- H. Andrew Schwartz
- Chief Communications Officer
- 202.775.3242
- aschwartz@csis.org
- Samuel Cestari
- Media Relations Coordinator, External Relations
- 202.775.7317
- scestari@csis.org
In the News
How Russia Tries to Sway Latin America on Ukraine
Ryan C. Berg and Rubi Bledsoe in Americas Quarterly — March 11, 2024
With Venezuela’s election set for late July, President Nicolás Maduro holds all the cards
Ryan C. Berg in AP — March 8, 2024
Ryan Berg: China ayuda a consolidar autoritarismos en la región
Ryan C. Berg in Expendiente Publico — March 5, 2024
Venezuelan dissident found dead in Chile as Nicolás Maduro tests US resolve
Ryan C. Berg in Financial Times — March 3, 2024
Why Are Truck Drivers Being Targeted in Mexico?
Ryan C. Berg in The Dialogue — February 26, 2024
Xóchitl rompió la barrera del nopal
Ryan C. Berg in Eje Central — February 19, 2024
Can the Vatican stop Nicaragua’s Catholic crackdown?
Ryan C. Berg in BBC — February 1, 2024
How Does Ecuador's Internal Armed Conflict End?
Ryan C. Berg in War on the Rocks — February 1, 2024
All Ryan C. Berg Content
Filter by
From Terrestrial to Celestial: Unlocking the Potential to Enhance U.S.-Latin American B2B Collaboration
Event — March 18, 2024
Catalysts of Change: How Entrepreneurs Are Transforming Latin America
Report by Ryan C. Berg, Juliana Rubio, and Nathaniel Laske — March 8, 2024
Hypersonic Hegemony: Niobium and the Western Hemisphere’s Role in the U.S.-China Power Struggle
Commentary by Guido L. Torres, Laura Delgado López, Ryan C. Berg, and Henry Ziemer — March 4, 2024
El rumbo democrático: An Auto-Coronation in El Salvador
Podcast Episode by Ryan C. Berg — February 22, 2024
Two Years Later: LAC and Russia’s War in Ukraine
Critical Questions by Ryan C. Berg, Christopher Hernandez-Roy, Juliana Rubio, Rubi Bledsoe, Henry Ziemer, and Nathaniel Laske — February 22, 2024
Report Launch: China’s Role in Democratic Backsliding in Latin America and the Caribbean
Event — February 15, 2024
“Exporting Autocracy: China’s Role in Democratic Backsliding in Latin America and the Caribbean”: Audio Brief with Ryan C. Berg and Henry Ziemer
Podcast Episode by Ryan C. Berg and Henry Ziemer — February 15, 2024
Exporting Autocracy
Report by Ryan C. Berg and Henry Ziemer — February 15, 2024
Venezuela's Deteriorating Electoral Conditions: A Conversation with María Corina Machado
Event — February 14, 2024
World’s Coolest Dictator
Podcast Episode by H. Andrew Schwartz and Ryan C. Berg — February 14, 2024