Alexander Cooley is the Claire Tow Professor of Political Science and Vice Provost for Research, Libraries and Academic Centers at Barnard College, Columbia University. From 2015 to 2021 he served as the 15th Director of Columbia University’s Harriman Institute for the study of Russia, Eurasia and Eastern Europe. Across the university, he has served on Columbia’s Tenure Review Advisory Committee (2017-2000), is currently an Executive Committee Member of the Saltzman Institute for War & Peace Studies at SIPA, and is a regular moderator for the Columbia World Leaders Forum. He currently chairs the Faculty Advisory Board of the Columbia Global Center in Athens.
Professor Cooley’s research examines how external actors have influenced the governance, sovereignty, and security of the post-Communist states, with a focus on Central Asia and the Caucasus. His seven university press books include Exit from Hegemony: the Unravelling of the American Global Order (Oxford 2020- co-authored with Daniel Nexon); Ranking the World: Grading States as a Tool of Global Governance (co-edited with Jack Snyder) and Great Games Local Rules: The New Great Power Contest in Central Asia (Oxford 2012), an examination of Russian-US-Chinese competition for influence in Central Asia.