American Enterprise Institute (AEI); the Catholic University of America (CUA)
Ryan's research interests, reports, and op-eds address violence and insecurity stemming from transnational organized crime (TOC), mostly in Latin America. In particular, he focuses on Brazil, Venezuela, and Mexico. He endeavors to cover wide-ranging themes, such as prisons as accelerators of violence and crime, drug and weapons trafficking in the region, and the illicit governance exercised by non-state actors. He also possesses linguistic and research knowledge of the Balkans, having lived in the region for some time.
• “The Amazon Basin as an Emerging and Contested Terrain for TOC,” forthcoming peer-reviewed article co-authored with Marcos Alan S.V. Ferreira.
• “Weapons Trafficking in Mexico: Assessing the Magnitude of the Problem,” AEI Research Report, forthcoming summer 2020.
• “Brazil's Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) Takes Flight," UVRN, July 18, 2020, https://urbanviolence.org/brazils-primeiro-comando-da-capital-takes-flight/.
• “Restoring Democracy in Nicaragua: Escalating Efforts Against the Ortega-Murillo Regime,” AEI Research Report, July 2020.
https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/restoring-democracy-in-nicaragua-escalating-efforts-against-the-ortega-murillo-regime/.
• “The Governance Competition in the Americas: 'Criminal Charity' During COVID-19 Will Have Decade-long Consequences," The SAIS Review of International Affairs, June 9, 2020, https://www.saisreview.org/2020/06/09/the-governance-competition-in-the-americas-criminal-charity-during-covid-19-will-have-decade-long-consequences/.
• “COVID-19 is Increasing the Power of Brazil's Criminal Groups,” LSE Latin America and the Caribbean blog, May 28, 2020,
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/latamcaribbean/2020/05/28/covid-19-is-increasing-the-power-of-brazils-criminal-groups/.
• “Reports of the PCC's Demise are Greatly Exaggerated," Americas Quarterly, April 27, 2020.
https://www.americasquarterly.org/content/reports-pccs-demise-are-greatly-exaggerated
• “Breaking Out: Brazil’s First Capital Command and the Emerging Prison-Based Threat,” AEI Research Report, March 2020.
https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/breaking-out-brazils-first-capital-command-and-the-emerging-prison-based-threat/
• "In Mexico, AMLO's Presidency Turned One," Foreign Policy, December 16, 2019.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/12/16/amlo-security-relationship-trump-back-track/
• "Brazilian Organized Crime is All Grown Up," Foreign Policy, August 15, 2019.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/08/08/brazilian-organized-crime-is-all-grown-up/
• "Venezuela is Armed to the Hilt," Foreign Policy, May 2, 2019. https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/05/02/venezuela-is-armed-to-the-hilt/.
• “Fortalecendo a cooperação entre o estado e o setor de desenvolvimento para combatir o narcotráfico.” (“Strengthening Cooperation between the State and Development Sector to Combat Narcotics Trafficking.”) White paper in Portuguese produced for Banco do Empreendedor, Dec. 2017.