Marc Cohen

Marc J. Cohen is senior associate (non-resident) with the Humanitarian Agenda at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Prior to joining CSIS, he was lead researcher for development finance and food systems at Oxfam, and earlier, research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. He has worked in the field of humanitarian studies for more than 40 years, focusing primarily on food insecurity in humanitarian crises and humanitarian finance. His publications include Food as a Weapon (2024 in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Food Studies, written with Ellen Messer) and Turning the Humanitarian System on its Head: Saving lives and livelihoods by strengthening local capacity and shifting leadership to local actors (2015, written with Tara R. Gingerich). He is a member of the International Humanitarian Studies Association (IHSA) and has presented papers on humanitarian policy topics at the IHSA’s world conferences and the International Studies Association’s annual conferences, among others. He has been quoted on humanitarian issues in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Politico, USA Today, Le Nouvelliste (Haiti’s most widely read newspaper), and the Associated Press, as well as on Voice of America, France 24, and Canadian Broadcasting. Cohen received his BA in French from Carleton College and an MA and PhD in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has taught at American, George Washington, and SAIS-Johns Hopkins Universities. He acknowledges with respect the Algonquian Nanticoke people on whose land he lives and works.