Terry Karl


Terry Lynn Karl is the Gildred Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Political Science at Stanford University. She specializes in comparative politics.

Early life and academics

Karl was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Karl's parents, Irene E. Karl and Michael M. Karl, married in 1940 and were both professors of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She has a sister, Bonnie Karl Staffier. She has lived in Noe Valley, San Francisco, California, since 1986.
Karl attended John Burroughs School in Ladue, Missouri, graduating in 1966. She received a B.A. from Stanford University, an M.A. from Stanford University in political science, and a Ph.D. with Special Distinction from Stanford University in political science. Karl was granted a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, from the University of San Francisco in 2005.

Academia

From 1982 to 1985, Karl was an assistant professor in the Department of Government at Harvard University. During that time, she brought a sexual harassment complaint against Harvard Professor Jorge I. Domínguez, the senior Latin American scholar in the department. This was a decade before similar allegations gained national prominence during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. In 1983, Domínguez was disciplined by Harvard's administration for "serious conduct" for sexually harassing her. In February 2021 Harvard apologized to Karl for failing to adequately enforce sanctions against Domínguez in her sexual harassment complaint against him, saying: “We all owe Dr. Karl a debt of gratitude for doing the right thing, especially when it was difficult, and for being persistent in her efforts to demand
justice."
Karl moved to Stanford University in 1987, where she served as director of Stanford's Center for Latin American Studies from 1990 to 2002. Karl is the Gildred Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Political Science in the Political Science Department at Stanford University.
She won the Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Allan V. Cox Medal for Faculty Excellence Fostering Undergraduate Research, the Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Graduate and Undergraduate Teaching, and was given the Rio Branco Prize by Brazil President Fernando Henrique Cardoso in recognition of her service in fostering academic relations between the United States and Latin America.

Scholarship

She is the author of The Paradox of Plenty: Oil Booms and Petro-States. It was named one of the two best books on Latin America by the Latin American Studies Association. Its central idea of a political resource curse “was recognized by Time
Magazine as one of “ten ideas that are changing our world.” She also co-authored Limits of Competition, co-authored with Ian Gary The Bottom of the Barrel: Africa's Oil Boom and the Poor, is co-author with Mary Kaldor and Yahia Said of the forthcoming New and Old Oil Wars, and is co-author with Joseph Stiglitz, Jeffrey Sachs, and others of the forthcoming Overcoming the Resource Curse. Her writings have been translated into 15 languages.
Karl is also known as for her work on transitions from authoritarian rule and comparative
democratization, introducing the concepts of” pact-making,” “modes of transitions” “electoralism”, and
“hybrid regimes” into this literature. Her work in this area was recognized by winning the Latin American
Studies Association Guillermo O’Donnell prize.
PUBLIC POLICY SERVICE:
A pioneer in using political science methodologies as investigative techniques and the Nuremberg
doctrine of command responsibility in trials charging crimes against humanity and major human rights
violations., Karl has served as expert witness in the U.S., Europe and Latin America, S testifying for the
Department of Justice and the War Crimes Unit of Homeland Security, the High Court of Spain, and
various national courts in Latin America.
Her research and testimonies were central in the case of the U’wa indigenous people in their successful and path-breaking 2002 lawsuit in Colombia against Occidental Petroleum. Other testimonies have helped to set important legal precedents, e.g., Karl was cited extensively in rulings that resulted in the first jury verdict in U.S. history against foreign military commanders living in the U.S. for murder and torture under the doctrine of command responsibility and the first jury verdict in U.S. history finding commanders responsible for “crimes against humanity” under the doctrine of command responsibility. Karl has presented hundreds of written to the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S Attorney General, U.S. Circuit courts, and U.S. immigration courts for political asylum seekers.
Transitions from Authoritarian Rule and Problems of Democratization: Karl’s most recent book on democratization, Extreme Inequality and State Capture: The Crisis of Democracy in the United States, assesses the lessons from Latin America and elsewhere for the United States in the Trump era. She has published extensively on Latin American Politics, especially about the Andean oil countries and Central America. She extended her early work on transitions from authoritarian rule to problems of comparative democratization, first introducing the concepts of” pact-making,” “ modes of transitions” “electoralism”, and “hybrid regimes.” Her article with Philippe Schmitter, “What Democracy Is and Is Not,” is one of the most frequently cited in political science. Since 2019, she has been writing on problems of U.S. democracy.
Karl has served as both informal and formal advisor to the U.N. Assistant Secretary General during peace negotiations in El Salvador and Guatemala and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, especially Inter-American Affairs. She has testified before Congress regarding U.S. policy towards Latin America and the politics of global oil.
Crimes Against Humanity, Transitional Justice and Human Rights: A pioneer in using political science methodologies as investigative techniques as well as the doctrine of command responsibility in war crimes, crimes against humanity and human rights trial, Karl serves as the expert witness in criminal, civil and administrative trials against direct human rights abusers or other actors charged with facilitating abuses. She has testified on war crimes or crimes against humanity in trials based in the United States for the Department of Justice and the War Crimes Unit and for governments or NGOs in Europe, Central America, and Colombia.
These trials include, among others: the massacre of El Mozote, Latin America’s largest contemporary massacre, the murder of El Salvador’s Archbishop Oscar Romero, the 1989 murders of six Jesuit priests and two women in the Central American University, and numerous massacres in Latin America. These trials have set important legal precedents due to her testimony. For example, Karl was cited extensively in rulings that resulted in the first jury verdict in U.S. history against foreign military commanders living in the U.S. for murder and torture under the doctrine of command responsibility and the first jury verdict in U.S. history finding commanders responsible for “crimes against humanity” under the doctrine of command responsibility. Her most recent trial work can be found here:
https://scrippsnews.com/stories/exclusive-ice-arrests-salvadoran-man-wanted-for-war-crimes/ and Colombia: https://www.courthousenews.com/11th-circuit-revives-lawsuits-accusing-chiquita-of-funding-colombian-terrorists and https://www.democracynow.org/2024/12/23/headlines/uwa_indigenous_people_in_colombia_win_major_victory_at_inter_american_court_of_human_rights
Karl’s testimonies regarding political asylum and temporary protected status have been presented to the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S Attorney General, U.S. Circuit courts, and U.S. immigration courts. She has documented well over 50 massacres for use in Latin America and European cases.

Selected publications

  • Schmitter, P. C., & Karl, T. L.. Journal of Democracy, 2, 75–88.
  • Karl, T. L.. Comparative Politics, 23, 1–21.
  • Karl, T. L., & Schmitter, P. C.. Modes of transition in Latin America, southern and eastern Europe. International Social Science Journal, 128, 267–282.
  • Karl, T. L.. Journal of Democracy, 6, 72–86.
  • Karl, T. L.. Oakland, CA: University of California Press.