Alexander Cooley is Director of Columbia University's Harriman Institute for the Study of Russia, Eurasia and Eastern Europe and the Claire Tow Professor of Political Science at Barnard College, Columbia University in New York. His research examines the sovereignty and political development of the former Soviet states, with a focus on Central Asia and the Caucasus.

Professor Cooley is the author or co-author of six books, including 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; and Contracting States: Sovereign Transfers in International Relations, co-authored with Hendrik Spruyt. He also co-edited, with Jack Snyder, Ranking the World: Grading States as a Tool of Global Governance (Cambridge 2015).

Cooley's 2012 book on the emerging multipolar politics of of Central Asia- Great Games, Local Rules: the New Great Power Contest for Central Asia- was published by Oxford University Press. It received an Honorable Mention from the Central Eurasian Studies Society and was described by Asia Policy as "possibly the most cogent critique of post-Cold War orthodoxy published to date."

Professor Cooley has testified for Congressional committees about Eurasian issues and he currently serves on a diverse range of international advisory committees, project boards and working groups engaged with the region. He is a regular commentator for international media outlets and his opinion pieces have appeared in the New York Times, Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy. His work has been supported with fellowships from the Open Society Foundations, Carnegie Corporation, Smith Richardson Foundation, and the German Marshall Fund of the United States, among others. Cooley earned his Ph.D. (1999) from Columbia University.

Professor Cooley regularly gives lectures and presentations on his research, some of which are detailed on his Amazon Author's page. His commentary on Eurasian politics can be followed on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/CooleyOnEurasia