Robert Muggah
Co-founder and Research Director at Igarapé Institute (Brazil) and the SecDev Group (Canada)
Igarapé Institute (website), SecDev Group (website)
email: robert [at] igarape [dot] org [dot] br
Co-founder and Research Director at Igarapé Institute (Brazil) and the SecDev Group (Canada)
Igarapé Institute (website), SecDev Group (website)
email: robert [at] igarape [dot] org [dot] br
small arms and light weapons (SALW) | Latin America | global trade data/trends | harm to civilians | arms trafficking
Robert Muggah specializes in security, migration, climate adaptation, new technologies and cities. He is co-founder of the Igarapé Institute - a think and "do" tank working on data-driven safety and justice across Latin America and Africa. He is also co-founder and principle of the SecDev Group - devoted to disrupting digital risk and strengthening cyber security especially in Eurasia and the Middle East. Robert is also a senior adviser to McKinseys and faculty at Singularity University. From 2000-2010, Robert was research director of the Small Arms Survey in Geneva. For more than two decades he has advised national and municipal governments, tech companies and international organizations such as the United Nations (multiple agencies), the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and others on issues ranging from data-driven crime prevention and disarmament, demobilization and reintegration to urban planning in fragile and conflict-affected settings.
Robert is (or has been) a fellow or faculty at the University of Oxford, the University of San Diego, the University of British Columbia, the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, and the Graduate Institute in Switzerland. Since 2016 he has also advised the World Economic Forum's Council on Cities and the annual Global Risk Report and helped launch the Global Parliament of Mayors. He has also served on several high level UN panels, including on issues of Youth, Peace and Security, and contributed to several flagship publications of groups like the OECD, UNDP, UNFPA, WHO and World Bank. Robert has authored eight books and hundreds of peer-review journals - the latest, with Ian Goldin, will be released by Penguin/Random House in 2020. He is a regular contributor to the Atlantic, BBC, CNN, Financial Times, Globo, Guardian, Economist, Folha de SP, New York Times, Newsweek, USA Today, and Wired and gave TED talks in 2014 and 2017. Robert received his DPhil from the University of Oxford and his MPhil from the University of Sussex.
Recent Publications:
Robert Muggah specializes in security, migration, climate adaptation, new technologies and cities. He is co-founder of the Igarapé Institute - a think and "do" tank working on data-driven safety and justice across Latin America and Africa. He is also co-founder and principle of the SecDev Group - devoted to disrupting digital risk and strengthening cyber security especially in Eurasia and the Middle East. Robert is also a senior adviser to McKinseys and faculty at Singularity University. From 2000-2010, Robert was research director of the Small Arms Survey in Geneva. For more than two decades he has advised national and municipal governments, tech companies and international organizations such as the United Nations (multiple agencies), the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and others on issues ranging from data-driven crime prevention and disarmament, demobilization and reintegration to urban planning in fragile and conflict-affected settings.
Robert is (or has been) a fellow or faculty at the University of Oxford, the University of San Diego, the University of British Columbia, the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, and the Graduate Institute in Switzerland. Since 2016 he has also advised the World Economic Forum's Council on Cities and the annual Global Risk Report and helped launch the Global Parliament of Mayors. He has also served on several high level UN panels, including on issues of Youth, Peace and Security, and contributed to several flagship publications of groups like the OECD, UNDP, UNFPA, WHO and World Bank. Robert has authored eight books and hundreds of peer-review journals - the latest, with Ian Goldin, will be released by Penguin/Random House in 2020. He is a regular contributor to the Atlantic, BBC, CNN, Financial Times, Globo, Guardian, Economist, Folha de SP, New York Times, Newsweek, USA Today, and Wired and gave TED talks in 2014 and 2017. Robert received his DPhil from the University of Oxford and his MPhil from the University of Sussex.
Recent Publications:
- "Arming the Americas," The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Latin America, 2020, with Katherine Aguirre (emerging expert).
- "To Downsize Bloated, Too-Powerful Police, Look at These Examples," Foreign Policy, July 17, 2020.
- "Calls for Police Reform Are Getting Louder—Here Is How to Do It," Foreign Policy, June 22, 2020.
- "Bolsonaro's end game," openDemocracy, June 2, 2020.
- "We urgently need major cooperation on global security in the COVID-19 era," World Economic Forum, April 23, 2020.
- "We Can Make the Post-Coronavirus World a Much Less Violent Place," Foreign Policy, April 14, 2020.
- Terra Incognito: 100 Maps to Survive the Next 100 Years, Penguin/Random House, 2020.
- "We can halve most forms of violence by 2030. Here's how," World Economic Forum, October 28, 2019.*
"Building the Bridge: SDG 16 // Commentary on Arms Control To Reduce Violence, Prevent Conflict and Advance Sustainable Development," UNIDIR, July 2019. - "Opinion: Relaxing Brazil's Gun Laws Could Make A Murderous Country Even Deadlier," National Public Radio, Jan. 10, 2019.
- "How Toronto can curb gun violence," The Globe and Mail, July 25, 2018.
- "A derrocada violenta da Nicarágua," O Globo, July 25, 2018.
- "How smart tech help cities fight terrorism and crime," World Economic Forum, June 15, 2018.
- "Medindo os custos econômicos da criminalidade no Brasil," O Globo, June 13, 2018.*
- "Brazil Spends Billions on Public Security: Why is Violence Getting Worse?," Americas Quarterly, June 12, 2018.
- "Want to stop gun violence now? Regulate bullets," Los Angeles Times, March 26, 2018.
- "How to fix Latin America's homicide problem," The Conversation, June 28, 2017.
- "Why A 'Great Wall' Won't Stop The Cross-Border Gun Trade," Americas Quarterly, April 27, 2017.
- "The Trouble with Brazil's Expanding Arms Trade," Defense One, April 18, 2017.
- "Opinion: Brazil has a murder and gun problem. Here's why both could get worse," USA Today (PRI.org), March 30, 2017.*
- "Latin America's Murder Epidemic," Foreign Affairs, March 22, 2017.
- "Brazil's Merchants of Death," New York Times, October 23, 2017.
* Indicates author, co-author, or contributor.