Geopolitical Ripples: War, Connectivity, and the Remaking of Eurasia

On Thursday, November 12, the Clements-Strauss Intelligence Studies Project and UT Austin's Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies will co-host a public event, “Geopolitical Ripples: War, Connectivity, and the Remaking of Eurasia,” with Dr. Alexander Cooley, Claire Tow Professor of Political Science at Barnard College. Dr. Cooley will explore how Russia’s continuing war against Ukraine and the 2026 US-Israeli conflict with Iran are reshaping the security and economic interests of states in Central Asia and the South Caucasus. These governments have responded to the overlapping conflicts by diversifying their security and economic partnerships, planning new logistical corridors, and managing the pressures created by energy and trade flows and sanctions regimes. The talk will review how these conflicts, usually examined separately, are interacting and prompting a reexamination of Eurasia’s boundaries, geopolitical connections, and place in the international order. • Registered is required. • Garage parking is available for a fee at the Manor Garage and the San Jacinto Garage. Parking will not be validated. Biography: Dr. Alexander Cooley is the Claire Tow Professor of Political Science at Barnard College. From 2015 to 2021, he served as the 15th Director of Columbia University’s Harriman Institute for the Study of Russia, Eurasia and Eastern Europe. Dr. Cooley’s research examines how external actors—including emerging powers, international organizations, multinational companies, NGOs, and Western enablers of grand corruption—have influenced the development, governance and sovereignty of the former Soviet states, with a focus on Central Asia and the Caucasus. Cooley is the author and/or editor of eight academic books including, Dictators Without Borders: Power and Money in Central Asia (Yale University Press, 2017), co-authored with John Heathershaw, and more recently, Exit from Hegemony: The Unraveling of the American Global Order (Oxford University Press, 2020), co-authored with Daniel Nexon. In addition to his academic research, Dr. Cooley serves on several international advisory boards engaged with the region and has testified for the United States Congress and Helsinki Commission. Cooley’s opinion pieces have appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Policy, and Foreign Affairs, and his research has been supported by fellowships and grants from the Open Society Foundations, Carnegie Corporation, and the German Marshall Fund of the United States, among others. Cooley earned both his M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. Lunch will be provided to attendees on a first come, first served basis.