Dr. Ariel Cohen
Senior Research Fellow
Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies
Ariel Cohen’s area of study ranges from economic development and political reform in the former Soviet republics to U.S. energy security, the global war on terror and the continuing conflict in the Middle East. As a native of Yalta on the shores of the Black Sea, Cohen brings first-hand knowledge to his studies of the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. Cohen also lived in Israel for eleven years, earning his law degree at Bar Ilan University Law School in Tel Aviv and working as a foreign policy journalist.
Cohen began work for The Heritage Foundation in 1992. In his first study as a Heritage fellow, Cohen warned that the efforts of Communist party hardliners to reverse Boris Yeltsin’s fledging reform movement could have devastating effects on the U.S. Cohen was one of the first U.S. analysts to warn about the dangers of wide-spread post-communist corruption, and predicted the Russian financial collapse nine months before the event actually took place. He called for restrictions on Russian nuclear and missile technology transfer from Russia to Iran in 1997. U.S. concerns over the sale or other transfer of such technology, Cohen said, "should be raised repeatedly at the highest levels of the Russian government."
In 2001, just two months before Osama bin Laden’s terror network struck the United States, Cohen testified before Congress, encouraging the U.S. government to "offer to help Russia and China in countering the efforts of radical Islamic groups in Central Asia, including the Taliban and the Osama bin Laden organization." Cohen is also a passionate debater on the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. In numerous television appearances and opinion articles, Cohen has made the case that no peace will exist in the Middle East as long as Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority continue to encourage or ignore terrorist attacks on Israel, perpetrated by Arab extremist groups.
Cohen earned his Ph.D. at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and served as a consultant to both the executive branch and the private sector on policy toward Russia, Eastern and Central Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. He participates in an ongoing study Russia 2025 conducted by The World Economic Forum. He is often called on to testify on Russian and former Soviet politics, economics, and law before the U.S. Congress, and regularly provides commentary on Russian and Eurasian affairs for CNN, FOX, ABC, BBC-TV, and all three national TV channels in Russia. He was a weekly contributor to the Voice of America radio and TV programs for eight years.
A former member of the Board of Directors of the California-Russia Trade Association, Dr. Cohen has managed media research projects for Radio Liberty's then-Soviet audience. His book, Russian Imperialism: Development and Crisis, was published in 1996 and in 1998 by Greenwood/Praeger. His new book which he co-authored and edited, Eurasia in Balance (Ashgate Publishing, 2005), focuses on the power shift in the region after 9/11. He is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations, International Institute of Strategic Studies in London, and Association for the Study of Nationalities.
