Jennifer Lynn McCoy

Jennifer McCoy, PhD, is Regent’s Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University and Nonresident Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as well as Research Affiliate at CEU’s Democracy Institute in Budapest. She was named a 2024 Andrew Carnegie Fellow, one of 28 scholars nationwide who will explore political polarization as well as what might help tackle division and strengthen American democracy. A specialist on democratic erosion and recovery, polarization and depolarization, mediation and conflict prevention, election processes and election observation, and Latin American politics, Dr. McCoy has authored or edited six books and dozens of articles. Her current book project is Depolarize Politics and Remake Democracy with Murat Somer, forthcoming with Princeton University Press. She teaches courses on democratic erosion, comparative democratization, international norms, and Latin American politics.

Dr. McCoy served as Director of the Carter Center’s Americas Program 1998-2015, where she created the group of Friends of the Inter-American Democratic Charter group; directed The Carter Center’s projects on Mediation and Monitoring in Venezuela 2002-2004, Ecuador-Colombia Dialogue Group 2008-2010, and U.S.-Andean Dialogue Group 2010-2011; led over a dozen election monitoring missions and organized former President Carter’s historic trips to Cuba in 2002 and 2011. McCoy is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations; member of the International Women’s Forum; and founding co-chair of the Atlanta chapter of the Scholar’s Strategy Network.