Sir Robert Francis Cooper (born 28 August 1947) is a British diplomat and adviser who served as a Special Adviser at the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

for

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

between 2013 and 2014. He was also a member of the

European Council on Foreign Relations The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is a pan-European think tank with offices in seven European capitals. Launched in October 2007, it conducts research on European foreign and security policy and provides a meeting space for decisi ...

and is an acclaimed writer on international relations.

Career

He was born on 28 August 1947, in Brentwood, Essex, the son of Norman and Frances Cooper, and educated at the Delamere School for Boys,

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper h ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

, and

Worcester College Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. He won a

Thouron Award The Thouron Award is a prestigious postgraduate scholarship established in 1960 by Sir John R.H. Thouron, K.B.E., and Esther du Pont Thouron. It was created to strengthen the "special relationship" between the United States and the United Kingdom ...

, and spent the academic year 1969–70 at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, joining the Diplomatic Service of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1970. As a diplomat, he has worked at various British embassies abroad, notably those in Tokyo and

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

. At the Foreign Office, he was Head of the Policy Planning Staff from 1989 to 1993. He has also been seconded to the Bank of England and spent a period in the Cabinet Office as Deputy Secretary for Defence and Overseas Affairs. He was the UK's Special Representative in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

until mid-2002. In 2002, he began to work for the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

(EU). He assumed the role of Director-General for External and Politico-Military Affairs at the General Secretariat of the

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and informally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven Institutions of the European Union (EU) as ...

. In that role, he was responsible to

Javier Solana Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga (; born 14 July 1942) is a Spanish physicist and PSOE politician. After serving in the Spanish government as Foreign Affairs Minister under Felipe González (1992–1995) and as the Secretary General of NA ...

, the former

High Representative The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR/VP) is the chief co-ordinator and representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) within the European Union (EU). The position is currently held b ...

of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy, and has assisted with the implementation of European strategic, security and defence policy. Since 2007 he has also been a member of the

. After the

Treaty of Lisbon The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is an international agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by the EU member s ...

's shake-up of EU foreign policy structures, and Solana's replacement by Catherine Ashton, Cooper sat on the steering committee which drew up the proposals for the new

European External Action Service The European External Action Service (EEAS) is the diplomatic service and combined foreign and defence ministry of the European Union (EU). The EEAS is led by the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR/VP), who is al ...

(EEAS). After the EEAS, the EU's foreign service, was formally established in December 2010 Cooper was made an EEAS "Counsellor".Catherine Ashton appoints Robert Cooper as Counsellor in the EEAS
(PDF), EEAS 2 December 2010 Subsequently he was released from the EEAS, but appointed as a Special Adviser to the Vice-President of the European Commission Catherine Ashton, primarily with regard to Myanmar, from April 2013 to March 2014.
Commission 1 April 2013

Personal life

His longtime partner is Dame

Mitsuko Uchida is a classical pianist and conductor, born in Japan and naturalised in Britain, particularly noted for her interpretations of Mozart and Schubert. She has appeared with many notable orchestras, recorded a wide repertory with several labels, w ...

, the internationally acclaimed

concert pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

Controversy

In March 2011, Cooper apparently came under fire for his support of Bahraini government crackdowns against protesters, waving off suggestions of police violence and saying "accidents happen." His comments came a week after a video surfaced showing a Bahraini police

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

performing

drive-by shooting A drive-by shooting is a type of assault that usually involves the perpetrator(s) firing a weapon from within a motor vehicle and then fleeing. Drive-by shootings allow the perpetrator(s) to quickly strike their target and flee the scene before ...

s against unarmed protesters.

Honours and distinctions

Following the State Visit to Japan by Queen Elizabeth II, he was appointed

Member of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, o ...

. He was subsequently appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG). In 2004, Cooper was awarded the

Orwell Prize The Orwell Prize, based at University College London, is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity (Registered Charity No 1161563, formerly "The Orwell Prize") governed by a boa ...

for ''The Breaking of Nations''. In November 2005, he was listed among the top 100 in '' Prospect'' magazine's Global Intellectuals Poll. On 14 November 2012, he was listed by EurActiv, the European media network, as the 28th out of 40 "most influential Britons on EU policy". Cooper was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to international peace and security.Cabinet Office
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Doctrine

Cooper is best known for his exposition of the doctrine of "new liberal imperialism", as expressed in his ''The Post-Modern State'' (2002). This contains such ideas as the designation of countries as "

Failed state A failed state is a political body that has disintegrated to a point where basic conditions and responsibilities of a sovereign government no longer function properly (see also fragile state and state collapse). A state can also fail if the ...

s", "Modern states" and "Postmodern states", and statements such as "The challenge to the postmodern world is to get used to the idea of

double standard A double standard is the application of different sets of principles for situations that are, in principle, the same. It is often used to describe treatment whereby one group is given more latitude than another. A double standard arises when two ...

s". His world-view is said to have been influential in the political thinking of

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

as well as the development of

European Security and Defence Policy The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is the European Union's (EU) course of action in the fields of defence and crisis management, and a main component of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The CSDP involves the deplo ...

Publications

His publications, apart from a number of articles in ''Prospect'' and elsewhere, include: *''The Post-Modern State and the World Order'' (Demos, 2000)
Full Text
(pdf) *''The Post-Modern State'', in Mark Leonard (ed.) Re-Ordering the World: The long-term implications of 11 September (Foreign Policy Centre: London, 2002
Full text (pdf)
*''The Breaking of Nations: Order and Chaos in the Twenty-First Century'' (Atlantic Press, 2003), .

References

External links

2005 interview with Cafe Babel
The new liberal imperialism
Robert Cooper in the Guardian
Imperial Liberalism
by Robert Cooper
Robert Cooper on the assets and shortfalls of EU crisis response capacity and the need for a unified political strategySaudi News Today
Bahrain's Interior Minister Meets Robert Cooper, 20 March 2011.
euobserver
Robert Cooper defends Bahrain Crackdown
Guardian
Robert Cooper in the Guardian "Accidents happen" {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Robert 1947 births Members of HM Diplomatic Service Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Members of the Royal Victorian Order Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford Living people People from Brentwood, Essex 20th-century British diplomats