For Immediate Release
Contact: Meg Pierannunzi, 202-429-4736
              Allison  Sturma, 202-429-4725

(Washington)–In a new volume, “International Mediation in Venezuela” from the United States Institute of Peace, authors Jennifer McCoy and Francisco Diez analyze the two-year effort of the Carter Center and the international community to prevent violent conflict and preserve democratic processes in Venezuela between 2002 and 2004.

From their perspective as facilitators of the intervention and as representatives of the Carter Center, the authors present an insider account of mediation at the national and international level, identifying lessons learned. The book includes an analysis of subsequent political developments and the decrease in international involvement through 2010.

“We identify and analyze both the limitations and contributions of the international role in the Venezuelan conflict through our own critical self-reflection and through the lens of conflict resolution and political theory and practice,” said McCoy and Diez.
 
Describing the historical roots and nature of the conflict, they provide insight to the main domestic actors and examine missed opportunities and the unintended consequences of many interventions. The volume analyzes the Carter Center’s interventions at the elite level as facilitators, with the Organization of American States, of multiple negotiations; the peacebuilding initiatives that the Center promoted together with the United Nations Development Program and many Venezuelans; and the involvement of the international community.

This case study serves as a source of experience for practitioners in similar situations, a scholarly evaluation of conflict prevention efforts in the Venezuelan context, and a rich ground for theory building in conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and international relations.

• Read a Q+A with the authors
• International Mediation in Venezuela
  USIP Press | September 2011