I am a senior fellow at the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. I am also a member of PONARS Eurasia. I earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University.
Currently I am researching how elites and societies in Russia and East Central Europe have adapted to the processes of social, political and economic transformation following the end of communism. I analyze the role of institutional and elite continuity from communist times and its impact on these countries’ politics and economics. I also examine the effect of the transformational shock on Russia's international revisionism and democratic backsliding across the region. My work on related topics has been published in numerous political science journals, including West European Politics, Party Politics, Post-Soviet Affairs, Democratization, and Journal of Democracy. My first book, When Left Moves Right: The Decline of the Left and the Rise of the Populist Right, emerged from my dissertation. It was published with Oxford University Press in January 2024. My second manuscript, “Russia’s Foreign Policy and Nomenklatura Continuity in Ruling Circles,” is under contract with Oxford University Press. This book project got awarded the Strategy & Policy Fellows grant.
My research has been referenced by the New York Times, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, BBC and other publications. My commentary appears in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Washington Post, and the New Republic among others. Throughout my career I have collaborated with multiple U.S. research centers and think tanks to develop policy recommendations designed to address the challenges of democratic backsliding and Russia's international revanchism.