Maria Sanchez joined the Colorado College faculty in 2022. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota. Her research explores the politics of how international law structures (and is structured by) relationships between international institutions, governments, local communities, and transnational actors, particularly in the areas of human rights, post-conflict reconciliation, and environmental justice. Her 2026 book with Cornell University Press, Deference and Divergence in Regional Human Rights Courts, investigates how the European Court of Human Rights, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights have developed very different approaches to interpreting the boundaries of their authority over member state governments, resulting in uneven regional application of purportedly global human rights principles. Maria teaches courses on international law, international relations theory, justice for state-sponsored human rights abuses, transnational migration policy, and European Union politics.
