Rachel E. Bowen (J.D., Georgetown University, 2002; Ph.D., Georgetown University, 2007), Associate Professor, Mansfield campus, teaches on American and comparative politics, constitutional law, and gender and politics. She pursues research on the intersection of law and politics with a special focus on Latin America. Her research focuses on judicial independence and judicial activism, Central American politics, state responses to gendered crime in Latin America, and judicial networks. She is most recently the author of The Achilles Heel of Democracy: Judicial Autonomy and the Rule of Law in Central America (Cambridge University Press 2017).