Dear friends and colleagues:
We write to thank you for your willingness to share your reflections on the legacy and impact of the work of Guillermo O’Donnell through your testimonies in writing or on video. Your reflections helped make the days in Buenos Aires to honor Guillermo a remarkable, unforgettable occasion. Guillermo was an amazing person with a huge impact, and it was great to celebrate his life and work with so many people who were touched by him.
Many others wrote papers or served as discussants for the conference on “Guillermo O’Donnell and the Study of Democracy” in Buenos Aires that the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame organized with colleagues from la Universidad de San Andrés, la Universidad de Buenos Aires, la Universidad Nacional de San Martín, la Asociación Nacional de Politólogos, la Sociedad Argentina deAnálisis Político, the Latin American Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the United Nations Development Program.
We were impressed by the hard work that went into the conference and deeply moved by the tributes.
We would like to share with you a tribute webpage focusing on Guillermo’s life and legacy. The following link will take you to letters we have received, links to other tributes, and press reports, as well as a slightly edited version of the video tribute shown in Buenos Aires on March 27. Please share it with others who might be interested.
http://kellogg.nd.edu/odonnell
Finally, the conference co-organizers, Dan Brinks, Marcelo Leiras, and Scott Mainwaring, are reviewing and editing the papers from the conference for an academic volume that we plan to publish with a major university press. We like to think Guillermo would be pleased.
In gratitude,
Scott Mainwaring, Steve Reifenberg, and Sharon Schierling