The Price of Influence: Geopolitics and Human Rights in Central Asia

Alexander Cooley is the Tow Professor for Distinguished Scholars and Practitioners and the Chair of the Political Science Department at Barnard College - Columbia University. His work examines the intersection of international political economy (IPE), domestic politics, and international security. , with a regional focus on the post-Soviet world. He will be presenting his current research on geopolitics and human rights in Central Asia.

Prof. Cooley’s first monograph, Logics of Hierarchy: The Organization of Empires, States, and Military Occupations (Cornell University Press, 2005), was the co-winner of the 2006 Marshall Shulman Prize for outstanding book on the international relations or foreign policy of the post-Communist countries. His most recent book, Contracting States: Sovereign Transfers in International Relations (Northwestern University Press, 2009, with Hendrik Spruyt), examines how states contract and share sovereignty with other states/non-state actors.

His most recent book, Great Games, Local Rules: The New Great Power Contest in Central Asia (Oxford University Press, 2012), considers the new “great game” between Russia, US, and China over resources and influence in Central Asia, and how the local governments exercise a surprising amount of agency within it. He has also published a number of articles in International Security, Review of International Political Economy, and International Political Science Review.

This series is sponsored by the McGill/Université de Montréal Centre for International Peace and Security Studies (CIPSS) and is funded by the Fonds québécois de recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC) project on ‘Globalization and the Changing National Security State’, with the support of the Department of Political Science.