Taylor Downs is a Doctoral Student in the PhD Program in International Conflict Management at Kennesaw State University. He graduated from Georgia Southern University with a BA in History in 2011 and from North Carolina State University with an MA in International Studies in 2013. His Masters Capstone research focused on conceptions of American identity among priests and volunteers working with Latino farmworkers in Newton Grove, North Carolina. After completing his Masters, he spent several years working with organizations in the nonprofit sector on issues of poverty and substandard housing in Panajachel, Guatemala, Raleigh, North Carolina, and Johnson City, Tennessee.

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Taylor enrolled in the INCM Program because he wants to learn research methodologies and techniques in the field of Conflict Resolution as he works towards a career as both a practitioner and academic. While at Kennesaw State, he plans to conduct research on Latin American democracies and how their political parties and institutions deal with nondemocratic actors, as well as how historical narratives are used to both legitimize and delegitimize these various actors, both in the region and in the United States. He is also interested in how historical narratives have been used by politicians, interest groups, and civil society organizations in the framing of debates on national security and military spending.