home > the cfr think tank > experts > jerome a. cohen
Adjunct Senior Fellow for Asia Studies
Contact Info:
Phone: +1-212-434-9635
E-mail: jcohen@cfr.org
Location:
New York, NY
Media downloads:
One-page bio (PDF, 57K)
CV (PDF, 47K)
Video clip (MP4, 691K)
Internationally renowned expert on the Chinese legal system and professor at NYU School of Law. Current work examines the role of law in Asian countries.
Expertise:Legal and business transactions in Asia; international relations of East Asia; international law.
Experience:Professor, New York University Law School (current); Senior Partner, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (current); Professor, Director of East Asian Legal Studies, and Associate Dean, Harvard University Law School (1964-81); Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley (1959-64).
Selected Publications:Investment Laws in Vietnam (Longman, 1990); Contract Laws of the People’s Republic of China (coauthor, Longman, 1988); People’s China and International Law (coauthor, Longman, 1974); Taiwan and American Policy: The Dilemma in U.S.-China Relations (Praeger, 1971); The Criminal Process in the People’s Republic of China: 1949-1963 (Harvard University Press, 1968).
Current Research Projects
Past Research Projects
October 29, 2009
Op-Ed
South China Morning Post
"Can contemporary Chinese political culture sustain a constitutional court?" asks Jerome Cohen, pointing to the Taiwanese Council of Grand Justices as a model for China to consider.
See more in China, Taiwan, Democracy and Human Rights
October 15, 2009
Op-Ed
South China Morning Post
In response to the Taiwanese Pime Minister's comment that political critics who do not live in Taiwan cannot understand the country, Jerome Cohen argues that "foreign critics are useful precisely because their distance gives them a different perspective."
See more in Taiwan, Society and Culture, Information & Communication
October 1, 2009
Op-Ed
South China Morning Post
In light of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic, Jerome Cohen writes that although China has made great strides, "getting to this point has not been easy."
See more in China, Economics, Society and Culture
September 3, 2009
Op-Ed
South China Morning Post
Jerome A. Cohen comments, "In China, bail is not an individual right designed to minimize restraints on freedom but an alternative pre-trial coercive measure."
See more in China, Human Rights, International Law
August 20, 2009
Op-Ed
South China Morning Post
Jerome A. Cohen states, "Imposing artificial 'stability' at the expense of justice can no longer work for a changing China."
See more in China, International Law
August 6, 2009
Op-Ed
South China Morning Post
Jerome A Cohen and Jeremy Daum comment on China's efforts to reform its "state secrets" laws.
See more in China, International Law
July 27, 2009
Op-Ed
Wall Street Journal Asia
Jerome A. Cohen and Yu-Jie Chen argue that leading Taiwan's KMT party is an opportunity for President Ma Ying-jeou.
See more in Taiwan
July 21, 2009
Op-Ed
South China Morning Post
Jerome A. Cohen argues, "Two cases involving 'state secrets' highlight the huge gap between legal procedures in China and the US."
See more in United States, China, International Law
July 9, 2009
Op-Ed
South China Morning Post
Jerome A. Cohen argues, "mainland rights lawyers are risking careers, liberty, and even their lives by taking 'sensitive' cases."
See more in China, Human Rights
June 25, 2009
Op-Ed
South China Morning Post
Jerome A. Cohen argues, "the term 'court of public opinion' is being taken literally in some parts of the mainland."
See more in China, Democracy and Human Rights
May 29, 2009
Op-Ed
South China Morning Post
Jerome A. Cohen and Yu-Jie Chen discuss the incorporation of two human rights covenants into Taiwan's domestic law.
See more in China, Taiwan, Democracy and Human Rights, International Law
May 14, 2009
Op-Ed
South China Morning Post
Jerome A. Cohen discusses the one year anniversary of the Sichuan earthquake.
See more in China, Democracy and Human Rights
May 2, 2009
Op-Ed
South China Morning Post
Jerome A. Cohen discusses the National Human Rights Act of China, and the gap between its language and its practice.
See more in China, Human Rights, International Law
April 18, 2009
Op-Ed
South China Morning Post
Jerome A. Cohen discusses the implications of United States vs. Stevens for Taiwan's legal system.
See more in Taiwan, Rule of Law
April 4, 2009
Op-Ed
South China Morning Post
Jerome A. Cohen discusses China's Third Five-Year Reform Programme for the People's Courts.
See more in China, International Law, Rule of Law
March 26, 2009
Interview
Jerome A. Cohen, an expert on human rights in China, sees "enormous progress" in economic and social rights but says deep problems--and sometimes harsh reprisals--persist for those seeking political and civil rights.
See more in China, Human Rights
March 19, 2009
Op-Ed
South China Morning Post
Jerome A. Cohen discusses the disappearance of Gao Zhisheng, China's most famous human rights lawyer, and argues that if China is serious about its ratification of the UN Convention against torture twenty years ago and its other international human rights commitments, it is obligated to come clean about Gao's fate.
See more in China, Human Rights, International Law
March 7, 2009
Op-Ed
South China Morning Post
Jerome A. Cohen writes on the discrepancy between theory and practice in the Chinese Government.
February 19, 2009
Op-Ed
South China Morning Post
Jerome A. Cohen warns that, "until President Barack Obama succeeds in restoring America's own reputation for respecting human rights, pressing China for further reforms would only make the U.S. look more hypocritical than it already does."
See more in China, Human Rights, International Organizations
February 9, 2009
Op-Ed
Wall Street Journal Asia
Jerome A. Cohen and Eva Pils look at the implications of the disappearance of human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng in China.
See more in China, Human Rights
Explore the international finance regime with a new interactive from CFR's program on International Institutions and Global Governance.
Identifying international threats and acting on them may be the most difficult job for U.S. policymakers. This report
provides an actionable road map for managing international threats before they erupt into crises and makes a strong case that preventive action is not a luxury but a necessity.
For more than a decade, the United States has mostly watched from the sidelines as Asian countries organize themselves into an alphabet soup of new multilateral groups. In this report, the authors review the relationship between pan-Asian and trans-Pacific institutions and suggest policy guidelines for a new U.S. approach to this new Asian landscape.
Complete list of Council Special Reports
Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
Complete list of CFR Books
For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:
James M. Lindsay
Senior Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair
+1.212.434.9626 (NY); +1.202.509.8405 (DC)
jlindsay@cfr.org
Janine Hill
Deputy Director of Studies Administration
+1.212.434.9753
jhill@cfr.org
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