Penguin Speakers Bureau

Biography

Jared Cohen is author of the book Children of Jihad: A Young American’s Travels Among the Youth of the Middle East. He received his B.A. from Stanford University and his M.Phil in International Relations from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. While at Oxford, he spent substantial amounts of time in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestinian refugee camps, where he looked at youth in the Islamic world and how they view themselves and their changing role in the world after 9/11. In these travels, Cohen has interviewed members of Hezbollah, Fatah, and a variety of other militant groups. He has also traveled extensively throughout twenty-four countries in Africa looking at issues related to conflict resolution, genocide, and democracy.

Jared is also author of One Hundred Days of Silence: America and the Rwanda Genocide. Additional publications include “The Passive Revolution: Is Political Resistance Dead or Alive in Iran” (Hoover Digest, 2005), “Iran’s Young Opposition” (SAIS Review, 2006), and “Diverting the Radicalization Track” (Policy Review, Spring 2009).

Jared frequently appears in the media: He has been featured in The New Yorker and has appeared on The Colbert Report, CNN, ABC, Headline News, Current TV, NPR, FOX News, MSNBC, BBC, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, and a variety of other TV and radio programs both domestic and international. He is frequently asked to speak at domestic and international conferences hosted by think tanks, the public sector, the military, the private sector, and foundations. He has also served as a judge at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Cohen is fluent in Swahili and has studied Arabic, Farsi, Spanish, Maa, Kilarusa, and Korean. In his spare time, Cohen paints, draws, and sculpts. Over the years, he has sold his work in galleries and to private buyers.

From 2006 to 2010, Jared Cohen worked on the Secretary of State’s policy planning staff, where he focused on counter-terrorism, public diplomacy, and some Middle East/North Africa issues. In 2010, Cohen joined Google Ideas, which combines the model of a think tank with the resources of a private company. He will also serve as an Adjunct Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, focusing on counter-terrorism, counter-radicalization, and 21st century statecraft.

Speaking Topics

• The Next 5 Billion: Life in Our New Connected Age

  Within the next decade, approximately five billion new people will go online. "The next five billion," as they're being called, are vastly different from the current two billion who populate the digital sphere, however. They will come from the most problematic parts of the world - regions wrought with political and economic instability - and will require drastically different customer service than the current "first world" users. In this highly innovative and forward-thinking keynote - drawing on his book, co-authored with Google executive chairman and former CEO Eric Schmidt, The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business - speaker Jared Cohen examines how this shift in online demographics will affect geo-politics and corporations, individuals and groups alike as businesses and financial institutions strive to understand the needs and attributes of their new customer base. This is a highly customizable presentation; Cohen will provide both a big-picture view of the coming decade as well as a granular view of the aspects that affect your organization most - whether it is the future of commerce and trade; the future of identity and citizenship; the future of revolution or terrorism; or the future of conflict and intervention.

• Understanding Risks & Disruptions in the New Digital World

  Within the next decade, approximately five billion new people will go online. "The next five billion," as they're being called, are vastly different from the current two billion who populate the digital sphere, however. They will come from the most problematic parts of the world - regions wrought with political and economic instability - and will require drastically different customer service than the current "first world" users. In this highly innovative and forward-thinking keynote, Jared Cohen examines how this shift in online demographics will affect geo-politics and corporations, as businesses and financial institutions will want to understand the needs and attributes of this new customer base in order to effectively serve it.

• Cyber Crimes of the Future

  We witnessed a physical attack on our nation on 9/11, as terrorists forcefully hijacked aircrafts and flew them into the Pentagon and Twin Towers. We've also experienced cyber attacks on our networks, as hackers on the other side of the world inserted malicious software into systems that operate some of our critical infrastructures. Now imagine a combined physical and cyber attack. In this gripping keynote, Jared Cohen looks to the future and predicts that in the new digital age, every state will have two foreign policies and two domestic policies: one for the physical world and one for the virtual world. And to make matters even more complicated, these physical and cyber policies will often contradict each other. Cohen shares his insights on what to expect in the future and what we can do to protect ourselves from coordinated physical and cyber attacks.

• 21st-Century Statecraft: A New Way of Thinking

  In the 21st century, statecraft – the art of leading a country, organizations, and companies – will be as much about relationship-building as it is negotiating. Drawing on his experience both in the government and in the private sector, Jared Cohen makes the compelling argument that governments and corporations must partner in order to develop fresh new solutions to traditional problems. This collaboration and exchange of ideas between the private and public sectors provides new and innovative ways to go about solving challenges, and opens up both parties to opportunities not available without the other. As the world changes rapidly around us, the communication and sharing of ideas between private and public has never been more vital. Throughout this keynote, Cohen shares successful examples and explores the vast possibilities that these collaborations can bring about in the future.

• Understanding the Technological Revolution

  Jared Cohen pioneered the use of technology in America's foreign policy. Using anecdotes and insights gleaned from his years in the State Department, Cohen explains that the technological revolution is not just about new technologies: it is about how individuals use them. For example, it was Cohen who successfully led the charge from the State Department to urge the postponement of the routine scheduled maintenance of Twitter.com during the Iranian election protests in the summer of 2009, recognizing Twitter as the Iranians' only outlet for voicing what was truly happening in their country. It was also Cohen who led dozens of tech CEOs from Silicon Valley into the most turbulent parts of the world in efforts to connect the industry and foreign policy. In this fascinating keynote, Cohen will use stories such as these to broaden your grasp of what technology is capable of, deepening your understanding of how it can be used creatively and strategically to put you – and your business – on the cutting edge.

• Harnessing the Power of Youth

  Did you know that over 60 percent of the world's population is under the age of 30? Jared Cohen does, and understands that this generation is the most savvy in connection technology yet, making it also the most individually-empowered generation in the world's history. Yet governments seem to ignore the size and potential influence of this demographic, perhaps failing to understand that the future of the world depends on what happens as this global youth bulge enters adulthood. Today, young people in democratic societies take full advantage of new technologies, finding it increasingly easy to connect to the new diplomats and change-makers of the 21st century. And where autocracy dominates, the youth of these nations will become the de facto opposition. Cohen deftly articulates this phenomenon, while outlining a path for these young people – from the world's most democratic to its most autocratic societies.

• Power Dynamics in the 21st Century

  According to Jared Cohen, the 21st century will be all about surprises. The relationships that exist between governments, corporations, and citizens are changing in fundamental ways that are both altering the international system and giving rise to a new world order. The conventional lines of communication that we have known for years have changed right before our eyes. The new centers of power are empowered communities, existing in every corner of the globe – from emerging markets to cyberspace. With experience in and out of government, Cohen has watched these new power dynamics unfold in emerging markets throughout the world. In this riveting presentation, Cohen introduces audiences to this fascinating phenomenon, and helps them navigate through a new world in which individual voices can carry more weight than the traditional influencers of the past.

• Modern Economic Statesmanship

  Across the world, corporations, industry associations, economic development councils, chambers of commerce, and more are spending tremendous amounts of resources – from goodwill trips and partnership development to lobbying and good old-fashioned money – in developing global economic relationships. Yet we are entering into a dynamic new time, with new tools, new practices, and new behaviors that are already changing world diplomacy and redefining the rules for global business relationships. Join Jared Cohen as he explores the radically evolving nature of modern economic statesmanship as seen through his experiences in changing global diplomacy, both in the State Department and as Director of Google Ideas.

Videos

Jared Cohen speaks at the Woodrow Wilson School as part of the School's "Media and Public Policy" lecture series

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