Professor Alvaro Mendez is the Director of the Global South Unit at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and a Senior Associate Fellow at LSE IDEAS. He is a Full Research Professor at Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid, working on a project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation that focuses on strategies for internationalization, innovation, and social responsibility in the face of the challenge of sustainability in a global context.

Prof. Mendez is also an Associate Fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), and a Member of the Colombian Council of Foreign Affairs (CORI). He teaches at LSE, Sciences Po Paris, and Fudan University.  He has won numerous teaching awards such as the IR Departmental Teaching Prize in recognition of his teaching of International Relations at the LSE.

Prof. Mendez is a prolific writer and an author, co-author, or editor of numerous books, including Colombian Agency and the Making of US Foreign Policy: Intervention by Invitation (Routledge, 2017); The China-Latin America Axis: Emerging Markets and their Role in an Increasingly Globalised World (Palgrave, 2018); New Development Assistance: Emerging Economies and the New Landscape of Development Assistance (Palgrave, 2020); The Political Economy of China-Latin America Relations: The AIIB Membership (Palgrave, 2020); and China and Latin America: Development, Agency and Geopolitics (Bloomsbury, 2023).

Prof. Mendez is also a former editor of Millennium – Journal of International Studies. He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles in such journals as Geopolitics, Global Policy, Asia Business & Management, Sustainability, Journal of Business Research, The China Journal, Asia Pacific Business Review, Finance Research Letters, Research in International Business and Finance, and Foreign Policy Analysis.

RESEARCH INTEREST

International Development, Geopolitics, Foreign Policy, International Relations Theory, International Organizations, Sustainable Banking (public and private), and China and the Global South, as well as China and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). 

EDUCATION

• 2012, PhD International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), UK.

• 2002, MSc Management, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), UK.

• 2000, MA International Relations (Merit), University of Essex, UK.

• 1999, BA Political Science, University of Kentucky, USA.

• 1999, BA Psychology, University of Kentucky, USA.

Academic papers

• Ubeda, F., Mendez, A., Forcadell, F. J., & López, B. (2024). How socially sustainable multinational banks promote financial inclusion in developing countries. Research in International Business and Finance, 71, 102470. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2024.102470 

• Ubeda, F., Mendez, A. & Forcadell, F. (2023).Sustainable Banking and Trust in the Global South. Global Policy. 

• Mendez, A. (2023). Latin American Agency: The New Development Bank, Uruguay's Accession and Brazilian Influence. Global Policy

• Houghton, D. & Mendez, A. (2023). The influence of somatic markers on U.S. Foreign Policy. Foreign Policy Analysis, 19(1).

• Turzi, Mariano, & Mendez, A. (2022). Latin America in/and the AIIB: A Constructivist Analysis. Vestnik RUDN. International Relations, 22(3), 478-494. doi:10.22363/2313-0660-2022-22-3-478-494.

• Ubeda, F., Mendez, A. & Forcadell, F. (2022). The SustainablePractices of Multinational Banks as Drivers of Financial Inclusion in Developing Countries. Finance Research Letters. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2022.103278.

• Mendez, Alvaro, Forcadell, Francisco Javier, & Horiachko, Kateryna. (2022). Russia–Ukraine crisis: China’s Belt Road Initiative at the crossroads. Asian Business & Management, 21:488–496. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41291-022-00195-1

• Úbeda, F., Forcadell, F.J., Aracil, E., & Mendez, A. (2022). How sustainable banking fosters the SDG 10 in weak institutional environments . Journal of Business Research, doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.03.065.

• Mendez, A. & Alden, Chris. (2021). China in Panama: From Peripheral Diplomacy to Grand Strategy. Geopolitics, 26(3), 838-860.

• García , E., Mendez, A. (2021). Mañana Today: A Long View of Economic Value Creation in Latin America. Global Policy, 12(3), 410-413.

• Mendez, A. (2021). Dependency in the Twenty-First Century? The Political Economy of China-Latin America Relations. The China Journal, 85.

• Mendez, A., Forcadell, F.J., & Ubeda, F. (2021). Sustainable Banking in the Global South: ESG Innovations in China. Digital Economy and Innovation Journal, doi: 10.7263/edeij-1-1-006 .

• Mendez, A., & Houghton, D. P. (2020). Sustainable Banking: The Role of Multilateral Development Banks as Norm Entrepreneurs. Sustainability, 12(972), 1-20.

• Mendez, A. (2020). New Development Assistance: The Case of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The Case Centre (220-0022-1), 1-17.

• Mendez, A. (2020). Enlisting the Gatekeeper: Chain-Referral and Elite Access in Foreign Policy Analysis. SAGE Research Methods Cases: Political Science and International Relations.

• Mendez, A. (2019). Latin America and the AIIB: Interests and Viewpoints. Global Policy, 10(4), 639-644.

Books

• Alden, C., & Mendez, A. (2023). China and Latin America: Development, Agency and Geopolitics. London: Bloomsbury. 

• Mendez, A. & Turzi, M. (2020). The Political Economy of China–Latin America Relations: The AIIB Membership. Palgrave Pivot.

• Fornes, G., & Mendez, A. (2018). The China-Latin America Axis: Emerging Markets and their Role in an Increasingly Globalised World. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.

• Mendez, A. (2017). Colombian Agency and the making of US Foreign Policy: Intervention by Invitation. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

Co-edited Books

• Herrera, L.C., Montenegro, M., Alden, C., Mendez, A., & Torres-Lista, V. (Eds.). (2021). New diplomatic relations between Panama and China: geopolitical and socioeconomic implications. Panama City, Panama: National Secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation (SENACYT); Universidad Católica Santa María La Antigua (USMA); London School of Economics (LSE).

• Jing, Y., Mendez, A. & Zheng, Y. (Eds) (2020). New Development Assistance. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan.

• Alcalde, J., Alden, C., Guerra, A., & Mendez, A. (Eds.). (2019). La Conexión China en la Política Exterior del Perú en el siglo XXI. Lima, Perú: IDEI & Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

Book Chapters

• Mendez, A., & Forcadell, F.J. (2022). China y America Latina. Diplomacia, comercio y geopolítica. In Gaspard Estrada (Ed.), América Latina Hoy (pp. 174-191). Madrid, Spain: Fundación Felipe Gonzales.

• Mendez, A. (2021). Geopolitics in Central America: China and El Salvador in the 21st Century. In Thierry Kellner & Sophie Wintgens (eds.), China-Latin America and the Caribbean: Assessment and Outlook (pp. 207-221) Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

• Jing, Y., Mendez, A., & Zheng, Y. (2020). New Development Assistance in the Making: An Introduction. In Yijia Jing, Alvaro Mendez, & Yu Zheng (eds.), New Development Assistance: Emerging Economies and the New Landscape of Development Assistance (pp. 1-18). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.

• Alden, C., Large, D., & Mendez, A. (2020). The Western Way of Development: A Critical Review. In Yijia Jing, Alvaro Mendez, & Yu Zheng (eds.), New Development Assistance: Emerging Economies and the New Landscape of Development Assistance (pp. 19-38). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.

• Mendez, A., Alcalde, J., & Alden, C. (2019). Introducción: Análisis de la Política Exterior de Perú hacia China en el siglo XXI. In Javier Alcalde, C. Alden, A. Guerra-Baron, & A. Mendez (eds.), La Conexión China en la Política Exterior del Perú en el siglo XXI (pp. 13-24). Lima, Perú: IDEI (Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Perú).

• Alden, C., & Mendez, A. (2019). Perú, China y la nueva multipolaridad – navegar en la política internacional en tiempos inciertos. In Javier Alcalde, Chris Alden, Angelica Guerra-Baron & Alvaro Mendez (eds.), La Conexión China en la Política Exterior del Perú en el siglo XXI (pp. 278-307). Lima, Perú: IDEI & Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Perú.

• Mendez, A. (2018). Global Governance in Foreign Policy. In Cameron G. Thies (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Foreign Policy Analysis (Vol. 1, pp. 793-816). New York: Oxford University Press.

• Mendez, A. (2018). Innovación y Desarrollo: La Academia como Agente de Cambio. In C. I. Moreno & P. Perez Herrero (eds.), ¿Qué universidades necesita el siglo XXI? Reflexiones a cien años de la Reforma de Córdoba (pp. 75-80). Madrid: Marcial Pons.

• Mendez, A. (2015). Discussion on the Global South. In Concepts of the Global South – Voices from around the world. University of Cologne, Germany: Global South Studies Center (GSSC).