The Foreign Service Journal, December 2019

When I saw that 35 African colonies were about to become independent just as I was beginning my career, I saw an opportunity to apply economic theory to the real developing world. 26 DECEMBER 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL director for Africa at the National Security Council, a position he held for two years. From 1989 to 1993, he served as assistant secretary of State for African affairs and was promoted to the rank of Career Ambas- sador in 1992. After retiring from the Foreign Service in 1993, Amb. Cohen served as a senior adviser to the Global Coali- tion for Africa, an intergovernmental body assisting African governments to adopt sound economic policies, through 1998. He then became a professorial lecturer in Africa stud- ies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, a position he held until 2010. Since 1994, he has been president and chief executive officer of Cohen and Woods International, an international consulting firm specializing in providing services to American companies interested in doing business in Africa. Amb. Cohen was also a member of the board of directors of Hyper- dynamics Oil and Gas from 2009 to 2016. He is the author of two books: Interven- ing in Africa: Superpower Peacemaking in a Troubled Continent (Macmillan, 2000) and The Mind of the African Strong Man: Conversations with Dictators, Statesmen and Father Figures (New Academia, 2015). He is also co-author of an audiobook, Who Lost Congo? The Consequences of Covert Action (Foreign Affairs, 2015). In addition to Hank Cohen’s Africa Blog (http://www. cohenonafrica.com/publications ), he has a Twitter account— @cohenonafrica —where he tweets in English and French. It currently has more than 21,000 followers. AFSA conferred its Christian A. Herter Award for Construc- tive Dissent by a Senior Officer on Amb. Cohen in 1982. And in 1999, it presented him with a Special Achievement Award in recognition of his many contributions to the organization over the previous three decades—from his role as one of the “Young Turks” who helped AFSA modernize and unionize in the early 1970s to his multiple terms as a member of the association’s Governing Board. Before AFSA had a large Labor Management Office, Mr. Cohen chaired the Members’ Interests Committee for many years, negotiating with the State Department for benefits and allowances to improve the quality of life for personnel serving overseas. Later he chaired AFSA’s Insurance Committee during the period when the union sponsored a variety of insurance poli- cies for members, and chaired other committees that obtained many of the benefits and allowances that Foreign Service per- sonnel and their families now take for granted. For instance, Mr. Cohen led AFSA’s successful effort to obtain the first educational allowances for kindergartners; he was instrumental in getting housing and ship- ment allowances for Foreign Service spe- cialists raised to match those of FSOs and in resolving long battles with State about overtime pay for secretaries, communica- tors and other staff in their favor. He also wrote the first state tax guide for The Foreign Service Journal , an annual feature that is always very popular with members. Amb. Cohen has received the Dis- tinguished Foreign Service Presidential Award, the Foreign Service Director Gen- eral’s Cup, the Douglas Dillon Award for Best Writing on Diplomatic Practice, the French Legion of Honor and the Belgian Order of Leopold II. He is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Rela- tions, the American Academy of Diplo- macy and AFSA. Mr. Cohen is married to the former Suzanne Karpman, who worked for the Voice of America as a French-language correspondent and for the Foreign Service Institute and the Central Intelligence Agency as a French-language instructor. The couple have two sons, Marc and Alain, who are technology entrepreneurs. FSJ Editor Shawn Dorman conducted the following interview with Amb. Cohen via email in October. Hank Cohen, State Department, 1977.