Bio


Coit Blacker is a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, the Olivier Nomellini Professor in International Studies in the School of Humanities and Sciences, and the Olivier Nomellini Family University Fellow in Undergraduate Education. He served as FSI's director between 2003 and August 2012. From 2004 to 2007, he was a member of the Stanford Board of Trustees Committee on Development. Since 2005 he has served as faculty co-chair of the International Initiative.

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.

Academic Appointments


  • Emeritus Faculty, Acad Council, Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law

Current Research and Scholarly Interests


Soviet/Russian foreign policy and security policy; U.S. foreign policy and security policy; national and international security relations

All Publications


  • Arms Control International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Blacker, C. D. Elsevier Sciences Ltd. 2002
  • Belarus and the Flight from Sovereignty Problematic Sovereignty: Contested Rules and Political Possibilities Blacker, C. D., Rice, C., Krasner , S. D. Columbia University Press. 2001
  • Russia and the West The New Russian Foreign Policy Blacker, C. D., Mandelbaum , M. Council on Foreign Relations Press. 1998
  • Reluctant Warriors: The United States, the Soviet Union and Arms Control Blacker, C. D. Freeman and Co.. 1987
  • Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, The Blacker , C. D., Bellany, I. edited by Gallacher, J. Cass and Co. (London). 1985
  • Ballistic Missile Defence in the 1980s Bellany , I. edited by Blacker , C. D. Cass and Co. (London). 1983
  • Verification of Arms Control Agreements, The edited by Blacker, C. D., Bellany , I. Cass and Co. (London). 1983
  • International Arms Control: Issues and Agreements edited by Blacker, C. D., Duffy, G. Stanford University Press . 1976