Peter H. Smith specializes in comparative politics, Latin American politics, and U.S.-Latin American relations. He is Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Simon Bolivar Professor of Latin American Studies, and Adjunct Professor of History at University of California, San Diego. Smith has served as president of the Latin American Studies Association and has been a consultant to the Ford Foundation, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and other institutions. He is also the moderator of “HemiScope,” a UCSD-TV news program about current events in Latin America that is broadcast via cable and satellite throughout the United States.
Author of numerous books and publications on U.S.-Latin American relations, his most recent book is Democracy in Latin America: Political Change in Comparative Perspective.