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David Smilde (born September 23, 1966) is an American sociologist and the Charles A and Leo M Favrot Professor at Tulane University, and Senior Fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America. He is known for his contributions to the sociology of religion and scholarship and advocacy around Venezuela’s political crisis.

Career
Smilde graduated from Calvin College with a BA in philosophy and sociology in 1989 and received his MA in 1994 and PhD in 2000 from the University of Chicago. He completed his dissertation under Wendy Griswold. In 1995, he received a Fulbright-Hays dissertation fellowship and in 2006 was named a Fulbright Scholar to teach at the Universidad Central de Venezuela. From 2011 to 2018, he was editor-in-chief of the journal Qualitative Sociology. From 2015 to 2018, he was a part of the International Panel on Social Progress and co-authored the report’s chapter on religion.

In 2012, he founded the blog Venezuelan Politics and Human Rights and curated it for the Washington Office on Latin America until 2020. From 2010-2012, he was chair of the Venezuelan Studies Section of the Latin American Studies Association. He is the program co-chair of the 2023 Latin American Studies Association Congress in Vancouver. He has been a residential fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame, in 2001 and 2020.

Contributions
His 2007 book Reason to Believe: Cultural Agency in Latin American Evangelicalism won the 2008 Best Book Award in the Sociology of Religion section of the American Sociological Association. He has also won best article awards from the Sociology of Religion Section and the Association for the Sociology of Religion. He became an important voice advocating for democracy in Venezuela, frequently commenting in the media and writing numerous opinion articles in The New York Times, Washington Post, and El País. In March 2017, he testified in a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Venezuela, advocating against sanctions.

Opinion Pieces

 * 2022 Geoff Ramsey and David Smilde. "The Ukraine war is opening space for talks with Venezuela," Responsible Statecraft, March 31.
 * 2022 Geoff Ramsey and David Smilde. "Biden ante Venezuela: una nueva oportunidad." El Pais, March 18.
 * 2022 Geoff Ramsey and David Smilde. "Biden’s Venezuela policy shift creates an opportunity—take advantage of it," El Pais English, March 19.
 * 2022 David Smilde. "U.S.-Venezuelan Oil Deal Must Not Forget Democracy," Foreign Policy, March 8.
 * 2022 David Smilde. "Fact Checking Power, April 11, 2002 and Beyond," NACLA Report on the Americas, February 4.
 * 2021 David Smilde. "From Populist to Socialist to Authoritarian Chavismo—Obstacles and Opportunities for Democratic Change." Venezuela Working Group, Latin America Program, Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, Washington D.C.
 * 2021 David Smilde, Geoff Ramsey, Keith Mines, and Steve Hege."Venezuela’s negotiations require international support—and real expectations." The Hill, August 12.
 * 2021 David Smilde, Geoff Ramsey, Keith Mines, and Steve Hege. "Negotiating a Return to Democracy in Venezuela." WOLA Research Report. Washington Office on Latin America & United States Institute of Peace, Washington DC.
 * 2021 David Smilde. "Starker Mann im schwachen Staat," Welt Sichten, June 22.
 * 2021 David Smilde and Geoff Ramsey. "Los Retos de Biden con Venezuela." El Pais. January 24.
 * 2021 David Smilde. "Trump’s bluster failed Venezuela. Biden must use diplomatic and economic levers to address the crisis." The Washington Post, January 19.
 * 2021 David Smilde. "La fanfarronería de Trump le falló a Venezuela." The Washington Post, January 24.
 * 2020 Geoff Ramsey and David Smilde. "Recalibrating U.S. Policy in Venezuela: Learning from Failure and Seizing Opportunities." Policy memo, Washington Office on Latin America, December 18.
 * 2020 Abraham Lowenthal and David Smilde. "Qué tiene que hacer la oposición venezolana para avanzar?" The New York Times, July 21.
 * 2020 David Smilde. "No hay cambio en la política de EEUU hacia Venezuela. La Realidad es peor que eso." El Pais, July 8.
 * 2020 David Smilde. "Joe Biden should not try to out-hawk Trump on Venezuela." Responsible Statecraft. June 25.
 * 2020 David Smilde and Geoff Ramsey. "The EU can help Venezuela move out of political deadlock." The Independent, May 26. Also published as "Europa podría alterar el trágico equilibrio de Venezuela." El Pais(Spain), May 18.
 * 2020 David Smilde and Hugo Pérez Hernáiz. "Catholic Church Urges Venezuelans to Unite Against Coronavirus." The Conversation,April 17.
 * 2020 David Smilde and Abraham Lowenthal. "Despite Contradictions: State Department's Venezuela Plan is a Step in the Right Direction." Op ed in the Washington Post, April 14.
 * 2020 Geoff Ramsey and David Smilde. "Beyond the Narcostate Narrative: What U.S. Drug Monitoring Data Says about Venezuela." WOLA Research Report. Washington Office on Latin America. February.
 * 2020 David Smilde. "Trump’s Shout-out Masks a Bleak Outlook for Venezuela’s Guaidó." Op ed in The New York Times, February 6.
 * 2020 David Smilde. "Guaidó’s Democratic Push Faces an Uncertain Future in Venezuela." World Politics Review, January 31.
 * 2019 Abraham Lowenthal and David Smilde. "Venezuela Negotiations Deserve Strong International Support." Op ed in The Hill, July 3.
 * 2019 Abraham Lowenthal and David Smilde. "Negotiating Venezuela’s Transition." Op ed in The New York Times, June 11.
 * 2019 David Smilde. "Venezuela’s power struggle reaches a tense stalemate, as human suffering deepens." The Conversation, April 4.
 * 2019 David Smilde and Geoff Ramsey. "The Fraught Path Forward: Venezuela and the International Contact Group," ''Análisis Carolina," No. 1. March 4.
 * 2019 David Smilde and Geoff Ramsey. "El Grupo de Contacto Internacional: la mejor oportunidad de Venezuela," Op ed in The New York Times Español, February 12.
 * 2019 David Smilde. "Venezuelans reject Maduro presidency—but most would oppose foreign military operation to oust him." The Conversation, January 10.
 * 2019 Abraham Lowenthal and David Smilde. "Venezuela needs politics and diplomacy, not military intervention.." The Hill, January 6.
 * 2018 David Smilde. "What a Drone Attack Says About Venezuela’s Future," Op ed in The New York Times, August 10.
 * 2018 David Smilde. "Situación de los Derechos Humanos en Venezuela 2017." Annual human rights report from the Venezuelan Program for Action and Education in Human Rights. PROVEA.
 * 2018 David Smilde. "The US Needs to Respect Latin American Leadership on Venezuela Crisis." The Hill, April 12.
 * 2018 David Smilde. "Should the United States Attack Venezuela?" Op-ed in The New York Times. January 14.
 * 2017 David Smilde. "Crime and Revolution in Venezuela." NACLA Report on the Americas, 49:3, 303-308.
 * 2017 David Smilde. "How to Avoid Civil War in Venezuela." Op-ed in the The New York Times. July 26.
 * 2017 David Smilde and Timothy Gill. "Post-Western' Diplomacy and the Venezuela Crisis." London School of Economics Latin American and Caribbean Blog. March 27.
 * 2017 David Smilde. "Venezuelan Democracy Needs the Hemisphere’s Help," Op-ed in the The New York Times, March 14.
 * 2016 David Smilde. "Chavismo Full Circle," Op-ed in the The New York Times.October 31.
 * 2016 David Smilde and Dimitris Pantoulas. "The Venezuelan Crisis, Regional Dynamics and the Colombian Peace Process." Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre.
 * 2016 David Smilde and Dimitris Pantoulas. "Will Venezuela’s Ongoing Crisis Jeopardize Colombia’s Peace with the Farc?" World Politics Review, July 20.


 * 2016 David Smilde. "Ein Land vor der Pleite.” Welt-Sichten. May 3.
 * 2015 David Smilde. "Sanctions on Venezuela Would Be Counterproductive," Washington Post. May 19.
 * 2014 David Smilde. "Time for an Answer", US News & World Report. February 26.
 * 2013 David Smilde and Dimitris Pantoulas. "Despite Political Uncertainty, Venezuela Stable—for Now." World Politics Review. March 5.

Works

 * 2022 David Smilde, Veronica Zubillaga, and Rebecca Hanson (eds.). The Paradox of Violence in Venezuela: Crime and Revolution. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press (in press).
 * 2021 David Smilde and Hugo Pérez Hernáiz (eds.) Postsecularismo y la religion vivida: aportes desde la sociología cualitativa norteamericana.
 * 2014 Jeffrey Rubin, David Smilde, and Benjamin Junge (eds.). Lived Citizenship and Lived Religion in Latin America’s Zones of Crisis. Latin American Research Review.
 * 2013 Courtney Bender, Wendy Cage, Peggy Levitt and David Smilde (eds.). Religion on the Edge: Decentering and Recentering the Sociology of Religion. New York: Oxford University Press.
 * 2011 David Smilde and Daniel Hellinger (eds.). Venezuela’s Bolivarian Democracy: Participation, Politics and Culture in Venezuela’s Bolivarian Democracy. Durham NC: Duke University Press.
 * 2007 David Smilde. Reason to Believe: Cultural Agency in Latin American Evangelicalism. Berkeley: University of California Press.
 * 2022 Margarita López Maya, David Smilde, and Keta Stephany. Protesta y Cultura en Venezuela: Los Marcos de Acción Colectiva en 1999. Caracas: FACES-UCV / CENDES / FONACIT.