Areas of specialization
- International institutions
- Global governance
- Diplomacy
- Comparative foreign policy
- Background
BA (Waterloo); MA (Waterloo); D. Phil (Oxford)
Andrew F. Cooper is Professor of Political Science at the University of Waterloo and an Associate Senior Fellow at the Centre for Global Cooperation Research. He teaches in the areas of the Theory and Practice of Diplomacy, National Perspectives on Global Governance, International Political Economy, and Comparative and Canadian Foreign Policy. Holding a Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil) from Oxford University, he has been a Visiting Professor at Harvard University, The Australian National University, and Stellenbosch University in South Africa.
He was Canada-US Fulbright Research Chair at University of Southern California in 2009, Fulbright Scholar in the Western Hemisphere Program at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC in 2000 and the Leger Fellow, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1993-1994. The author/co-author of 8 books, and editor/co-editor of 20 collections, his scholarly publications have appeared in International Organization, World Development, International Studies Review, International Interactions, Political Science Quarterly, International Affairs, Global Policy Journal, Washington Quarterly, Journal of Democracy, Global Governance and New Political Economy.
His work has been profiled via ABC Good Morning America, The Independent, Canada Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) Q, Variety Magazine, Times of India, China Daily, and the Washington Diplomat and he has been a member of the Global Applied Research Network (GARNET), Network of Excellence and the Warwick Commission on the Future of the Multilateral Trade Regime. He has led training sessions on foreign policy/trade issues/governance in Canada, South Africa and the World Trade Organization(WTO) in Geneva.
He has served as a member of the editorial board of the International Studies Association (ISA) Journal of Foreign Policy Analysis, The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, and the Canadian Journal of Political Science.
Single authored books
The Concertation Impulse in World Politics Contestation over Fundamental Institutions and the Constrictions of Institutionalist International Relations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024).
The BRICS – A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).
Diplomatic Afterlives (Cambridge: Polity, 2014).
Internet Gambling Offshore: Caribbean Struggles over Casino Capitalism (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).
Celebrity Diplomacy (Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishing, 2007).
Tests of Global Governance: Canadian Diplomacy and United Nations World Conferences (Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2004).
In Between Countries: Australia, Canada and the Search for Order in Agricultural Trade (Montreal/ Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1998).
Canadian Foreign Policy: Old Habits and New Directions (Scarborough, ON: Prentice Hall Canada, 1997).
British Agricultural Policy, 1912-1936: A Study in Conservative Politics (Manchester, UK/New York: University of Manchester Press/St. Martin’s, 1989).
Co-authored books
Co-author (with Ramesh Thakur), The Group of Twenty (G20) (New York: Routledge, 2012).
Co-author (with Thomas Legler), Intervention without Intervening? OAS and Democracy in the Americas (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006): 192.
Co-author (with Kim Richard Nossal and Richard Higgott), Relocating Middle Powers: Australia and Canada in a Changing World Order (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press/University of Melbourne Press, 1993).
I have also edited or co-edited15 collections including The Oxford Handbook of Modern Diplomacy (OUP, 2013): the “Spotlight” book, American Political Science Association, July 2013, and Rising States, Rising Institutions: Challenges for Global Governance: (Brookings Institution Press, 2010), as well as 4 special issues of journals.In addition, I have published 78 articles in a wide range of top journals including International Organization, International Affairs, World Development, International Studies Review, and Global Policy Journal, with over 250 total publications. He served as a member of the editorial boards of the ISA journals, Foreign Policy Analysis and International Studies Perspectives.
Awards & distinction
Distinguished Scholar Award at the 60th Annual International Studies Association (ISA) Convention (2019).
University of Waterloo Arts Award for Excellence in Research (2014).
TRIPS (Teaching, Research & International Policy) Survey of International Relations Faculty in Ten Countries (William and Mary College) (2009). Ranked 4th (p.57, q.48) in recognition of research and work having influence on foreign policy in Canada over the past 20 years.
Ranked 6th by number of publications and 21st overall across the sub-disciplines of Canadian Political Scientists on Research.Com with a D. Index of 35, and 6,132 citations.
Presentation of the 8th Käte Hamburger Lecture, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, 15 April 2014;
Canada-US Fulbright Research Chair, Annenberg Center on Public Diplomacy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA, (January-May 2009).
Canada-US Fulbright Scholar, The Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C. USA, (January-May 2000).
Léger Fellow, Planning Staff, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, (September 1993 – July 1994).
Co-recipient of the 1990 Canada-Australia Bicentennial Institutional Research Award, AUD $25,000, “Australia and Canada in the Changing International Order” (with Kim Richard Nossal and Richard Higgott) – High Commission of Canada to Australia.
Associate/Co-Director, Centre on Foreign Policy and Federalism, University of Waterloo (1983 to 2003): supported as co-recipient, (with John English and Toivo Miljan), with $104,000 start-up grant from the Donner Canadian Foundation.
The Importance of practice to conceptual analysis
Consistent with my longstanding track record as policy advisor and commentator, I believe strongly that the study of practice is essential for conceptual analysis.
From 2003 to 2010 I was Associate Director and Distinguished Fellow, The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). In the international domain, I was selected to be a commissioner on the 2007 Warwick Commission on the future of the multilateral trade system. I acted as the co-convenor of the first module on “Contemporary Diplomacy” under the auspices of the Diplomatic Academy of the Caribbean. I have presented over 20 keynote presentations around the world, including high profile addresses to the 2017 conference on the “Future Foreign Service” convened by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and the 2015 Reunion of Mexico’s Ambassadors and Consul Generals. I co-authored work on the Inter-American Democracy Charter was extensively referred to by the 2010 Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.
In the Canadian context, I have had an extended role organizing the “Inside Government” training module for the incoming cohort of Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade foreign service officers (1999-2006). My presentations to parliamentary committees are extensive: including a preliminary evaluation of the impact of 9/11 on Canadian foreign policy before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, House of Commons, Ottawa, 27 November 2001.
The importance of mentorship and collaboration
One major endorsement in terms of my role as a mentor across the spectrum of professional engagement, as well as my record of service and scholarship, came with the presentation of the:
Distinguished Scholar Award at the 60th Annual International Studies Association (ISA) Convention (2019).
First ever recipient of the now annual Diplomatic Studies Section (DPLST) award that recognizes “a scholar's lifetime contribution to the study of diplomacy, broadly conceived. Ideal nominees will have made significant advances in diplomacy scholarship, as well as superlative records of service and mentorship within the wider academic community and/or the Diplomatic Studies Section.”
In terms of my research activity, I am especially proud of the culture of collaboration built into my publication profile. I have co-authored works with a host of established academics but also with MA, PhD and Post-Doctoral students as the (partial) list below attests:
Cooper, A.F. and Cannon, B. 2024. “Contested informality in regional institutional design: A comparative analysis of ASEAN and the Quad,” Global Policy 15, 2: 40-52. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1758-5899.13335
Cooper, A.F. and Schulz, C-A. 2023. “How secondary states can take advantage of networks in world politics: the case of bridges and hubs,” Globalizations 20, 7, 22 March: 1083-1101 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14747731.2023.2190701.
Cooper, A.F. and H. Wang. 2022. “Public Opinion on Chinese Foreign Aid Policy: Calculated Opposition or General Discontent?” Journal of Contemporary China 32, 141, June: 1-18. DOI: 10.1080/10670564.2022.2090101.
Cooper, A.F. and Cornut, J. 2019. “The changing practices of frontline diplomacy: New directions for inquiry,” Review of International Studies 45, 2, April: 300-319.
Cooper, A.F. and M. Bishop, 2018. “The FIFA Scandal and the Distorted Influence of Small States,” Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations 24, 1: 21-40.
Cooper, A.F. and E. P. Dal, 2016. “Positioning the third wave of middle power diplomacy: Institutional elevation, practice limitations,” International Journal 71, 4: 516–528.
Cooper, A.F. and Pouliot, V. 2015. “How much is global governance changing? The G20 as international practice” (with Vincent), Cooperation and Conflict 50, 3: 334-350.
Cooper, A.F. and Farooq, A. 2015. “Emerging Donors: The Promise and Limits of Bilateral and Multilateral Democracy Promotion” (Asif Farooq), Cambridge Review of International Affairs 29, 4: 1520- 154.
Cooper, A.F. and Herman, D. 2013. “Between collective action and a fragmented political economy: the G20 and the return of protectionist impulses,” Contemporary Politics, 19, 4: 399–410.
Cooper, A.F. and Subacchi, P. 2010. co- eds. special issue, “Global economic governance in Transition,” International Affairs 86, 3, May: 607-617.
Cooper, A.F. and Shaw, T.M. and Chin, G. 2009. “Emerging Powers and Africa: Implications for/from Global Governance? Politikon (South African Journal of Political Science), 36, 1, April: 27 – 44.
Cooper, A.F. and Momani, B. 2009. “The challenge of re-branding progressive countries in the Gulf and Middle East: Opportunities through new networked engagements versus constraints of embedded negative images,” Place Branding and Public Diplomacy 5: 103–117.
Cooper, A.F. and Stevenson, M. 2009. “Overcoming constraints of state sovereignty: Global health governance in Asia," Third World Quarterly 30, October 2009: 1379 – 1394.
Cooper, A.F. and Fues, T. 2008. “Do the Asian Drivers Pull their Diplomatic Weight? China, India and the United Nations,” World Development 36, 2: 293-307.
Cooper, A.F. and Lackenbauer, P. W. 2007. “The Achilles’ Heel of Canadian Good International Citizenship: Indigenous Diplomacies and State Responses,” Canadian Foreign Policy Journal 13, 2: 99-119.
Cooper, A.F. and Legler, T. 2001. "A Model for Defending Democracy? The OAS's Mission to Peru" (with Thomas Legler), Journal of Democracy 12, 4, October: 123-136.
Cooper, A.F. and Higgott, R. 1990. "Middle Power Leadership and Coalition-Building: Australia, the Cairns Group and the Uruguay Round", International Organization 44, Autumn: 589-631.
Additional links & information
Cooper Andrew. ‘A critical evaluation of rationalist IR in the analysis of informal institutions’. International Politics. Accepted: 11 March 2022.
Cooper, Andrew. “Recalibrating The G20 in the Aftermath of Saudi Arabia's Summit: Testing a Secretariat!” International Development Blog, 3 Dec. 2020.
Cooper, Andrew. “China, India and the Pattern of G20/BRICS Engagement: Differentiated Ambivalence between 'Rising' Power Status and Solidarity with the Global South.” Taylor & Francis, 24 Sept. 2020.
Cooper, A. “Recalibrating the Classic Models of Mediation: Former Leaders and Hybrid Personality-Network Driven Initiatives in the Venezuela Crisis”, Revista de ciencia política, Vol 40 no.1, April 2020.
Axel Berger, Andrew F Cooper & Sven Grimm. "A decade of G20 summitry: Assessing the benefits, limitations and future of global club governance in turbulent times". Pages 493-504, South African Journal of International Affairs, Volume 26, Issue 4, December 2019.
Cooper, A. "https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10220461.2019.1699855". Pages 505-520 , South African Journal of International Affairs, Volume 26, Issue 4, December 2019.
Cooper, A. "The Populist Challenge and the Domestic Turn in Diplomacy". Blog post. Hague Journal of Diplomacy. Nov 7, 2019.
Cooper, A and Cornut, J. 2018. “The changing practices of frontline diplomacy: New directions for inquiry", Review of International Studies.
Cooper, A. 2018. “U.S. public diplomacy and sports stars: mobilizing African-American athletes as goodwill ambassadors from the cold war to an uncertain future”, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy .
For a full list of publications see Dr. Cooper's Curriculum Vitae
Contact
Email: andrew.cooper1@uwaterloo.ca
Office: Hagey Hall 305
Phone: x46568