{{Short description|American professor and political scientist}}
{{Infobox academic
| name = 
| birth_date = 
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| discipline = [[Political science]]
| education = {{Plain list|
* [[Swarthmore College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
* [[Columbia University]] ([[PhD]])
}}
| image = 
| workplaces = {{Plain list|
* [[Barnard College]]
* [[Columbia University]]
}}
| children = 
| influences = 
| doctoral_students = 
| spouse = 
| relatives = [[John K. Cooley]] (father)
}}'''Alexander A. Cooley''' is an American political scientist. He is Claire Tow professor at [[Barnard College]]. He  served as the 15th director of the [[Harriman Institute]] of [[Columbia University]]<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Alexander Cooley {{!}} Barnard College|url=https://barnard.edu/profiles/alexander-cooley|access-date=2022-02-24|website=barnard.edu}}</ref> and is currently the vice provost for research, libraries and academic centers at Barnard College.

== Biography ==
Cooley graduated from [[Swarthmore College]] and received his Ph.D. from [[Columbia University]], studying under [[Hendrik Spruyt]] and [[Mark von Hagen]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Cold Wars and the Academy {{!}} Harriman Institute|url=https://oralhistory.harriman.columbia.edu/interview/5|access-date=2022-02-24|website=oralhistory.harriman.columbia.edu}}</ref> He taught at [[Johns Hopkins University]] before joining the faculty of [[Barnard College]] in 2001, eventually serving as chair of the college's political science department.<ref name=":0" /> In 2015, he was named director of Columbia's Harriman Institute, serving in the position for six years.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=May 6, 2015|title=Political Science Professor Alexander Cooley Named Director of Columbia's Harriman Institute - PONARS Eurasia|url=https://www.ponarseurasia.org/political-science-professor-alexander-cooley-named-director-of-columbia-s-harriman-institute/|access-date=2022-02-24|website=PONARS Eurasia|language=en-US}}</ref>

Cooley has written extensively about the politics of the [[former-Soviet states]], with an emphasis on [[Central Asia]] and the [[Caucasus]], as well as the liberal international order and democratic backsliding.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kramer|first=Andrew E.|last2=Troianovski|first2=Anton|date=2021-08-19|title=With Afghan Collapse, Moscow Takes Charge in Central Asia|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/19/world/asia/afghanistan-russia.html|access-date=2022-02-24|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Cooley|first=Alexander|last2=Nexon|first2=Daniel H.|date=2022-02-15|title=The Real Crisis of Global Order|language=en-US|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2021-12-14/illiberalism-real-crisis-global-order|access-date=2022-02-24|issn=0015-7120}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2022-02-18|title=Behold The Age Of Anocracy, When Democracies Slide Into Despotism|url=https://worldcrunch.com/opinion-analysis/anocracy-ukraine-crisis|access-date=2022-02-24|website=Worldcrunch|language=en}}</ref> His analysis of great power politics in [[Central Asia]] was called by [[National Bureau of Asian Research]] as "possibly the most cogent critique of post–Cold War orthodoxy published to date."<ref>{{Cite web|title=How to Suborn Great Powers|url=https://www.nbr.org/publication/how-to-suborn-great-powers/|access-date=2022-02-24|website=The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR)|language=en}}</ref>

== Bibliography ==

* ''Logics of Hierarchy: The Organization of Empires, States, and Military Occupations,'' Cornell University Press, 2005.
* Base Politics: Democratic Change and the U.S. Military Overseas, Cornell University Press, 2008.
* ''Contracting States: Sovereign Transfers in International Relations,'' Princeton University Press, 2009.
* ''Great Games, Local Rules: The New Great Power Contest in Central Asia,'' Oxford University Press, 2012.
* ''Ranking the World: Grading states as a Tool of Global Governance'', Cambridge University Press, 2015
* ''Dictators Without Borders: Power and Money in Central Asia'', Yale University Press, 2017.
* ''Exit from Hegemony: The Unraveling of the American Global Order'', Oxford University Press, 2020.
* ''Undermining American Hegemony: Goods Substitution in World Politics,'' Cambridge University Press, 2021.

== Personal life ==
Cooley's father was journalist [[John K. Cooley]], who served as an editor of ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]''.<ref name=":1" />

==See also==
*[[Zombie Election Monitors]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooley, Alexander}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Swarthmore College alumni]]
[[Category:Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni]]
[[Category:American political scientists]]
[[Category:Johns Hopkins University faculty]]
[[Category:Barnard College faculty]]
[[Category:Columbia University faculty]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]