John Ackerman

John M. Ackerman is Professor at the Institute of Legal Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and Vice President of the International Association of Administrative Law.  He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and is an expert in the topics of corruption control, election law, transparency, accountability, independent agencies and citizen participation. Member of the National System of Researchers of Mexico´s National Science and Technology Council, Level I. Editor-in-Chief of the Mexican Law Review at the Institute for Legal Research of the UNAM.  He is a bi-weekly columnist for the newsweekly Proceso and the daily La Jornada and has also contributed op-ed pieces to leading media outlets such as New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, San Diego Union-Tribune, el Periódico Reforma, and El Universal.

Some of his most important publications include: Más Allá del Acceso a la Información: Transparencia, Rendición de Cuentas y Estado de Derecho (IIJ-UNAM/Siglo XXI/Univ. de Guadalajara/CETA, 2008), Organismos Autónomos y Democracia: El Caso de México (IIJ-UNAM/Siglo XXI Editores, 2007), ,  “The Global Explosion of Freedom of Information Laws,” Administrative Law Review (58:1, 2006), and “Co-Governance for Accountability, ” World Development  (32:3, 2004).  He has also published the results of his research with The World Bank, Gestión y Política Pública, Instituto Federal de Acceso a la Información Pública, Auditoría Superior de la Federación, Boletín Mexicano de Derecho Comparado, Perfiles Latinoamericanos, Revista Quórum, as well as in numerous edited volumes. 

Ackerman has been a Senior Consultant to the World Bank and was coordinator of the National Working Group on Transparency, Oversight and Accountability of the National Fiscal Convention in Mexico.  He has also been a consultant with USAID, OECD, UNDP, Global Integrity, International Budget Project, Open Society Institute and in Mexico with the Secretary of the Public Function, the Supreme Court, the Chamber of Deputies and the Government of Mexico City. He has received funding for his research from the Fulbright Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the National Science Foundation and the University of California Institute on Mexico and the United States (UC MEXUS).   He can be contacted at: ackerman@servidor.unam.mx.

His web sites are: www.johnackerman.blogspot.com and http://www.juridicas.unam.mx/invest/directorio/investigador.htm?p=ackerman