About

Hello! My name is João Pedro, and I am a Ph.D. student and the Karl W. Deutsch Fellow in the Department of Government at Harvard University. My research explores how international organizations survive, adapt, and evolve within complex institutional environments. I study questions of institutional design, regime complexity, the political economy and the life cycles of international cooperation.

Before Harvard, I received my B.A. in International Relations from the University of São Paulo (USP) in 2025.

I am Brazilian, originally from Saquarema, a small coastal town near Rio de Janeiro known as Brazil's surfing capital. In my spare time, I enjoy attending concerts, reading literature and social sciences unrelated to my work, and experimenting with baking desserts from different cultural traditions.

Research Interests

A (non-exhaustive) list of my research interests includes:

• International organizations (formal and informal)
• Institutional design and reform
• Comparative regionalism
• The crisis (and resilience) of the liberal international order
• The politics of international law and compliance
• International dimensions of human rights
• Trade policy and international trade governance
• Contestation of international institutions
• International negotiations
• International bureaucracies

If you are also interested in one of these themes, please always feel free to reach out and discuss research!

Contact

Email: [email protected]