Recent Writing
As part of a National Endowment for Democracy report on Chinese and Russian authoritarian influence, Alexander Cooley writes on Russia's intensifying global influence operations since the invasion of Ukraine in Testing the Limits.
In Government and Opposition, Alexander Cooley and Alexander Dukalskis spotlight the political science literature on transnational authoritarianism, including the official and unofficial channels through which autocrats extend their reach abroad and the evolving role of the United States.
Alexander Cooley writes for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, ahead of the 2026 NATO Summit in Ankara, on how the contest over Europe's security architecture has become Eurasian and even global in scope.
Alexander Cooley and Daniel Nexon write in Foreign Affairs on how Trump's foreign policy increasingly serves private enrichment over the national interest.
Alexander Cooley writes for Columbia Global on how authoritarian states have gone on the global offensive, drawing on the argument of his book Dictating the Agenda (with Alexander Dukalskis).
Recent from Media & Talks
Alexander Cooley sits down with Julián Ginzo of the Swiss interview site They Said So for a wide-ranging conversation on teaching political science in a polarized era and his path through the study of authoritarianism and kleptocracy.
Alexander Cooley moderates a Chicago Council on Global Affairs panel, part of the America at 250 Global Forum, on how different world regions are reshaping global order as American power fragments, with Middle East scholar Lisa Anderson (Columbia SIPA) and Latin America economist Francisco Rodríguez (Center for Economic and Policy Research).
Alexander Cooley joins France 24's Mark Owen to discuss how the Trump administration's hard-line immigration enforcement collides with the practical demands of staging a global sporting event, after a Somali World Cup referee was barred from entering the United States.
Alexander Cooley and Alex Dukalskis join the Chicago Council on Global Affairs to discuss the geopolitics of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, FIFA's ties to authoritarian host states, and what to watch beyond the pitch (June 8, 2026).
Alexander Cooley moderates a Chicago Council on Global Affairs panel on Central Asia's rising strategic role and the growing Central Asian diaspora in the United States, with Amb. Edil Baisalov, Ajar Chekirova, and Elena Son-LaRocco.