Jean Louise Cohen (born November 28, 1946) is the Nell and Herbert Singer Professor of Political Thought at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. She specializes in contemporary political and legal theory with particular research interests in democratic theory,
critical theory
A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from soci ...
,
civil society
Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.PhD in 1979 from the New School for Social Research. She served as Assistant Professor of Social Science at
Bennington College
Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...
from 1980-1983 and as Assistant Professor of Sociology at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
(1984) before coming to Columbia. Cohen has been Associate Editor of the journals ''
Telos
Telos (; ) is a term used by philosopher Aristotle to refer to the final cause of a natural organ or entity, or of a work of human art. Intentional actualization of potential or inherent purpose,"Telos.''Philosophy Terms'' Retrieved 3 May 2020. ...
'', ''
Constellations
A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object.
The origins of the earliest constellation ...
'' and ''Dissent''. She was elected one of the three
editors in chief
An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies.
The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
of ''Constellations'' in May 2014. Her current projects concern rethinking state and popular sovereignty in the epoch of globalization, as well as defending the law-making capacities of secular polities from religiously motivated legal pluralism. Jean L. Cohen serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Council's journal, ''
Ethics & International Affairs
''Ethics & International Affairs'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering ethical aspects of international relations. It was established in 1987 and is published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Carnegie Council for Et ...
Andrew Arato
Andrew Arato ( hu, Arató András ; born 22 August 1944) is a professor of Political and Social Theory in the Department of Sociology at The New School, best known for his influential book ''Civil Society and Political Theory'', coauthored with ...
, is viewed by many as a seminal text on contemporary civil society.
Research interests
Cohen's areas of research are:
sovereignty
Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...
,
international law
International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...
,
global justice
Global justice is an issue in political philosophy arising from the concern about unfairness. It is sometimes understood as a form of internationalism.
History
Henrik Syse claims that global ethics and international justice in western traditi ...
,
governance
Governance is the process of interactions through the laws, social norm, norms, power (social and political), power or language of an organized society over a social system (family, tribe, formal organization, formal or informal organization, a ...
, contemporary political theory, continental political theory,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, American legal theory,
feminist theory
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's and men's social roles, experiences, interests, chores, and feminist ...
,
civil society
Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.privacy
Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively.
The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...
,
gender
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...
and
sexuality
Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...
,
social movements
A social movement is a loosely organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a Social issue, social or political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to resist or undo one. It is a type of Group ...
,
rights
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical the ...
* Cohen, J. L. (1982). Class and civil society: The limits of Marxian critical theory. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.
* Cohen, J. L., & Arato, A. (1997). Civil society and political theory. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
* Cohen, J. L. (2002). Regulating intimacy: A new legal paradigm. Princeton, N.J: Princeton Univ. Press.
* Cohen, J. L. (2012). Globalization and sovereignty: Rethinking legality, legitimacy and constitutionalism.
Changing paradigms of citizenship and the exclusiveness of the demos * Cohen, J. L., & Arato, A. (2021). Populism and civil society: The challenge to constitutional democracy.