He was director of the Institute of Peruvian Studies and professor at the National University of San Marcos.
He was a visiting professor at the University of Bologna and also worked at the Ortega y Gasset University Institute, at the Center for Constitutional Studies in Madrid, at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences in Quito, at The New School for Social Research, among others.
Through his work he sought to understand the origin and characteristics of the structural problems derived from the Peruvian social formation.
[3] Cotler's best known work is Clases, Estado y Nación en el Perú (1992).
[4] This book has been described as "an ambitious and intelligently written book which seeks to explain why Peru has failed to develop into a true nation-state with full control over its economy and government" and argues that Peru's problem are due to the country's colonial heritage under Spain.