Biographical Information

Dirk Kruijt is professor emeritus of Developmental Studies at the University of Utrecht, where he is a lecturer since 1968, having lectured statistical methodologies, and planning and policy studies. He holds a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Utrecht, where he is currently a researcher in the department of Cultural Anthropology. A department which he headed from 1993 to 1995 and from 1997 to 2006. In the University of Utrecht he was also vice-dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Behaviour. His research areas include, but are not limited to, the study of revolutions and violence in Latin America, state-building, development of civil society, poverty and social exclusion. He was visiting scholar and visiting researcher in numerous universities and research institutes across Latin America, and advisor to several labour unions and public planning institutes, also across Latin America. In addition, he was senior advisor to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, having been assigned to Latin America on multiple occasions.