Coit Blacker

Coit D. Blacker, PhD

  • Senior Fellow Emeritus at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
  • Olivier Nomellini Professor Emeritus in International Studies at the School of Humanities and Sciences
  • Faculty member at the Center for International Security and Cooperation
  • Faculty member at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law

Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Stanford University
Encina Hall
616 Serra Street, C137
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

(650) 725-5368 (voice)
(650) 723-3435 (fax)

Biography

Coit Blacker is a senior fellow emeritus at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, the Olivier Nomellini Professor Emeritus in International Studies at the School of Humanities and Sciences, and a Bass University Fellow in Undergraduate Education. He served as director of FSI from 2003 to 2012. From 2005 to 2011, he was co-chair of the International Initiative of the Stanford Challenge, and from 2004 to 2007, served as a member of the Development Committee of the university's Board of Trustees.

During the first Clinton administration, Blacker served as special assistant to the president for National Security Affairs and senior director for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian affairs at the National Security Council (NSC). At the NSC, he oversaw the implementation of U.S. policy toward Russia and the New Independent States, while also serving as principal staff assistant to the president and the National Security Advisor on matters relating to the former Soviet Union.

Following his government service, Blacker returned to Stanford to resume his research and teaching. From 1998 to 2003, he also co-directed the Aspen Institute's U.S.-Russia Dialogue, which brought together prominent U.S. and Russian specialists on foreign and defense policy for discussion and review of critical issues in the bilateral relationship. He was a study group member of the U.S. Commission on National Security in the 21st Century (the Hart-Rudman Commission) throughout the commission's tenure.

In 2001, Blacker was the recipient of the Laurence and Naomi Carpenter Hoagland Prize for Undergraduate Teaching at Stanford.

Blacker holds an honorary doctorate from the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Far Eastern Studies for his work on U.S.-Russian relations. He is a graduate of Occidental College (A.B., Political Science) and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (M.A., M.A.L.D., and Ph.D).

Blacker's association with Stanford began in 1977, when he was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship by the Arms Control and Disarmament Program, the precursor to the Center for International Security and Cooperation at FSI.

publications

Books
December 2002

Arms Control

Author(s)
cover link Arms Control
Books
December 2001

Belarus and the Flight from Sovereignty

Author(s)
cover link Belarus and the Flight from Sovereignty
Policy Briefs
March 1999

NATO After Madrid: Looking to the Future

Author(s)
cover link NATO After Madrid: Looking to the Future

In The News

CDDRL directors
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The Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law Celebrates 20 Years of Global Impact

The center’s achievements include both informing public discourse about democracy, development, and rule of law, and also educating and training a generation of scholars and leaders who will change the world.
cover link The Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law Celebrates 20 Years of Global Impact
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SPICE Honors Top Two High School Scholars at Japan Day Event

cover link SPICE Honors Top Two High School Scholars at Japan Day Event
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Congratulations to the Class of 2011 CISAC Honors students

cover link Congratulations to the Class of 2011 CISAC Honors students