EVENT RECAP: “Dictating the Agenda” with Alexander Cooley
“Dictating the Agenda: The Authoritarian Resurgence in World Politics” with Alexander Cooley
With Alexander Cooley
Thursday, June 12, 2025
Moderated by Jacqueline Adams
On June 12, 2025, the NCAFP hosted Columbia University Professor Alexander Cooley to discuss his latest book “Dictating the Agenda: The Authoritarian Resurgence in World Politics.” Professor Cooley was in conversation with Jaqueline Adams, NCAFP Trustee, and former CBS News Correspondent.
In their conversation, they explored the concept that authoritarian governments and the consistent rise of illiberal populism have repurposed transnational institutions and the mechanisms that once expanded liberalism and free market globalization. Cooley argued that soft-power arenas, such as academia, sports, and consumer activism, have been co-opted by foreign and domestic populist trends, a move he labeled authoritarian snapback. Within this snapback democracy erodes, individual liberties diminish, and universal human rights are disregarded. The discussion also noted other modes, such as “greenwashing” and “gender washing,” all helping to normalize autocratic tendencies under the guise of climate diplomacy and gender parity within multilateral institutions.
Q&A followed the moderated discussion. Tom Hexner, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, provided the welcoming remarks for the evening. During the concluding reception, audience members were invited to purchase a copy of Dictating the Agenda and have it signed.
This program was a George D. Schwab Policy Briefing.
Alexander Cooley and Jaqueline Adams in a moderated conversation.
Tom Hexner, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the NCAFP, introducing the evening program.
Audience Q&A session after the moderated conversation.
Featured Speakers
Alexander Cooley is the Claire Tow Professor of Political Science and Vice Provost for Academic Centers and Libraries at Barnard College, Columbia University, and an Academy Adjunct Faculty member at Chatham House. 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.
Professor 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 Unravelling of the American Global Order (Oxford University Press, 2020), co-authored with Daniel Nexon.
In addition to his academic research, Professor 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 New York Times, Foreign Policy and Foreign Affairs.
Jaqueline Adams is a journalist, author, consultant and convener. After more than two decades as an Emmy Award-winning CBS News correspondent, she launched her boutique consulting firm, J Adams: Strategic Communications, LLC., and works with both corporate and non-profit clients.
At CBS News, Ms. Adams spent five years as a White House correspondent during the Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations. In the 1990s, she was a prolific contributor to the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and CBS News Sunday Morning.
She serves on the boards of the Harvard Business School Club of New York and the NCAFP. Ms. Adams is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Advisory Committee of the United States Institute of Peace, and the Advisory Council of the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream.
Ms. Adams is also the co-founder of the training program for rising star managers of color, The Diverse Future. She also serves as a senior advisor to the B-2-B firm, NicklPass, which provides easy access to subscriptions via one login for teams. In 2020, she co-authored, “A Blessing: Women of Color Teaming Up to Lead, Empower and Thrive.”