Jennifer McCoy is Distinguished University Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University, and Director of the Carter Center’s Americas Program. She was recently appointed interim Director of the newly-established Global Studies Institute at Georgia State University. She is a specialist on democratization, international collective defense of democracy, mediation and conflict prevention, election processes and election observation, and Latin American politics. McCoy’s latest book, “International Mediation in Venezuela” (2011), was co-authored with Francisco Diez.