Andrés Carrizosa is a Paraguayan-American political scientist who was born in Kansas City to two Paraguayan parents. After completing school in Asunción, Paraguay, Andrés received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from the University of Kansas. Andrés then went on to complete a Master of Global Politics from the University of Salamanca, Spain, and he subsequently received a Master in Arts and a PhD from Rice University, where he carried out most of the work contained in this book. At the time of submitting this manuscript for publication, Andrés was working in Instituto Desarrollo, a Paraguayan research and higher education institute.