Dictating the Agenda: The Authoritarian Resurgence in World Politics (Oxford 2025)

Undermining American Hegemony: Goods Substitution in World Politics (Cambridge 2021)

Exit from Hegemony: The Unraveling of the American Global Order (Oxford 2020)

Dictators Without Borders: Power and Money in Central Asia (Yale 2017)

Selected recent commentary, analysis, and interviews.

“Kleptocrat in Chief,” The Mona Charen Show. March 2, 2026. https://www.thebulwark.com/p/kleptocrat-in-chief-w-alexander-cooley

“How Authoritarianism went from Defense to Offense on the World Stage,” The Rhodes Center Podcast with Mark Blyth (discussion of Dictating the Agenda with Mark Blyth) . February 6, 2026. https://rhodes-center-podcast.captivate.fm/episode/how-authoritarianism-went-from-defense-to-offense-on-the-world-stage

The Age of Kleptocracy Foreign Affairs, March/April 2026 With Daniel Nexon. How Trump's foreign policy serves private enrichment over the national interest.

Dictating the Agenda: The Authoritarians go on the Offensive, commentary for Columbia Global’s newsletter. February 12, 2026.

Quoted in Axios on University Foreign Funding Data Axios, February 11, 2026. On the Trump administration's release of foreign funding disclosures and how the national data can distort the national security picture.https://www.axios.com/2026/02/11/trump-harvard-stanford-education-department

Book Review Roundtable on Dictating the Agenda Asia Policy (NBR), January 2026. With Alexander Dukalskis. Aurel Croissant, Julia Bader, John J. Chin, Jessica C. Teets, and Emilie M. Hafner-Burton engage with our argument about "authoritarian snapback"—how non-democratic states have repurposed liberal global networks to counter democracy and human rights advocacy. https://www.nbr.org/publication/asia-policy-21-1-january-2026/

Review of Dictating the Agenda Lawfare, October 15, 2025. Moises Naim reviews Dictating the Agenda: The Authoritarian Resurgence in World Politics. https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/authoritarian-soft-power

Even in Retreat, America Will Remain Globally Consequential Chicago Council on Global Affairs, December 16, 2025 Analysis on America's evolving global role.

Russia's Hidden Empire Foreign Affairs, April 16, 2025 How Moscow has rekindled its influence across the post-Soviet space.

Trump's Antiliberal Order Foreign Affairs, January/February 2025 With Daniel Nexon. How "America First" undercuts America's strategic advantage.

Authoritarian States Have Powerful Reach—Even in Ireland Irish Examiner, October 9, 2025 With Alexander Dukalskis. How authoritarian influence extends into open democracies.

Global Corruption Would Be Impossible Without Help from the West Promarket, September 15, 2025 On the role of Western enablers in sustaining global kleptocracy.

Alexander Cooley in L'Express L'Express, May 11, 2025 Interview on Russia's hidden influence in the post-Soviet space. (In French)

Delphi Economic Forum: Responses to Polycrises April 2025 Panel discussion on navigating overlapping global crises. (Video)

Selected Past Events

Research Interests

Global Authoritarianism and Democratic Erosion

Kleptocracy and Transnational Corruption

International Order, Hegemony, and Great Power Competition

Eurasian Politics and the Post-Soviet States

The Politics of Foreign Military Bases

Recent & Ongoing projects