Brian Taylor

• 2024 Spring
  • PSC 347 Politics of Russia
• 2023 Fall
  • PSC 785 Comparative Civil-Military Relations
• 2023 Summer
  • PSC 786 Russian and Post-Soviet Politics
• 2022 Fall
  • PSC 348 Politics and the Military
  • PSC 792 Research Design
• 2022 Spring
  • PSC 749 International Security Theory
  • PSC 347 Politics of Russia

Russian politics, comparative politics, security studies

My primary research interests are in the realm of Russian politics. Much of my research has focused on the development of the Russian state, with particular attention to state coercive organizations, such as the military and the police. I also have written on Russian elite politics, including the nature of Putinism as a mentality and political system. Additional interests include comparative state-building and civil-military relations.

"Carnegie International Policy Scholars Consortium and Network", Sponsored by Carnegie Corporation of New York.

"The Character and Origins of Partisanship in Turkey:_Doctoral Dissertation Research", Sponsored by American Political Science Association.

"Putinism: How Russia is Misruled", Sponsored by Smith Richardson Foundation Inc.

"Support for Institutes and Research Groups on Qualitative and Multi-Method Research", Sponsored by National Science Foundation.

"Putin and the Power Ministries", Sponsored by Smith Richardson Foundation Inc.

• Books
  • Taylor, B. D., Russian Politics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2024.
  • Taylor, B. D., The Code of Putinism. Oxford University Press, 2018.
  • Taylor, B. D., State Building in Putin’s Russia: Policing and Coercion After Communism. Cambridge University Press, 2011.
  • Taylor, B. D., Politics and the Russian Army: Civil-Military Relations, 1689-2000. Cambridge University Press, 2003.
• Journal Articles
  • Taylor, B. D., "What Happened to Soviet Security Studies?: An Essay on the State of the Field." Russian Politics, 2019.
  • Taylor, B. D., "The Russian Siloviki and Political Change." Daedalus , 2017.
  • Taylor, B. D., "Police Reform in Russia: The Policy Process in a Hybrid Regime." Post-Soviet Affairs, 2014.
  • Taylor, B. D., Botea, R., "Tilly Tally: War-Making and State-Making in the Contemporary Third World." International Studies Review, 2008.
  • Taylor, B. D., "Putin’s ‘Historic Mission’: State-Building and the Power Ministries in the North Caucasus." Problems of Post-Communism, 2007.
  • Taylor, B. D., "Force and Federalism: Controlling Coercion in Federal Hybrid Regimes." Comparative Politics, 2007.
  • Taylor, B. D., "Law Enforcement and Civil Society in Russia." Europe-Asia Studies, 2006.
• Book Chapters
  • Strokan, M. A., Taylor, B. D., "Intelligence." In The Routledge Handbook of Russian Foreign Policy. Tsygankov, A. P. (ed.) Routledge, 2018.
  • Taylor, B. D., "The Transformation of the Russian State." In The Oxford Handbook of Transformations of the State. Leibfried, S., Huber, E., Lange, M., Levy, J. D., Nullmeier, F. and Stephens, J. D. (eds.) Oxford University Press, 2015.
  • Taylor, B. D., "From Police State to Police State? Legacies and Law Enforcement in Russia." In Historical Legacies of Communism in Russia and Eastern Europe. Beissinger, M., Kotkin, S. (eds.) Cambridge University Press, 2014.
  • Taylor, B. D., "Russia’s Regions and Law Enforcement." In The Dynamics of Russian Politics: Putin's Reform of Federal-Regional Relations. Reddaway, P., Orttung, R. W. (eds.) Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.
  • Taylor, B. D., "Commentary on Moldova." In Managing Conflict in the Former Soviet Union: Russian and American Perspectives. Arbatov, A., Chayes, A., Chayes, A. H. and Olsen, L. (eds.) MIT Press, 1997.
• Book Reviews
  • Soldatov, A., Borogan, I. and Taylor, B. D., "Review of The Red Web: The Struggle between Russia's Digital Dictators and the New Online Revolutionaries." In Russian Review. , 2016.
  • Stent, A. E., Taylor, B. D., "Review of The Limits of Partnership: U.S.-Russian Relations in the Twenty-First Century." In Slavic Review. , 2015.
  • Remington, T. F., Taylor, B. D., "Review of Presidential Decrees in Russia: A Comparative Perspective." In Russian Review. , 2015.
  • Barany, Z., Taylor, B. D., "Review of The Soldier and the Changing State." In Perspectives on Politics. , 2013.
  • Sharafutdinova, G., Taylor, B. D., "Review of Political Consequences of Crony Capitalism Inside Russia." In Comparative Political Studies. , 2012.
  • Taylor, B. D., "Review of The Politics of Security in Modern Russia." In Perspectives on Politics. Galeotti, M. (ed.) , 2010.
  • Brannon, R., Gomart, T. and Taylor, B. D., "Review of Russian Civil-Military Relations and Russian Civil-Military Relations: Putin's Legacy." In Democracy and Security. , 2009.
• Monographs
  • Taylor, B. D., "Russia’s Power Ministries: Coercion and Commerce." Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism, Syracuse University, 2007.
  • Taylor, B. D., "Breaking the Disarmament Deadlock: Nuclear Weapons, Arms Control, and Russian-American Relations." In Council for a Livable World Education Fund. , 1998.
• Public Interest Publications
  • Taylor, B. D., de Nevers, R., "Putin's War of Recolonization." In Journal of Democracy (online). , 2023.
  • Taylor, B. D., "The Power Struggle After Putin: Russia's Inevitable Succession Crisis." In Foreign Affairs [online]. , 2022.
  • Taylor, B. D., "Has Putin Lost It?." In Riddle Russia. , 2022.
  • Taylor, B. D., "Understanding Putinism." In PONARS Eurasia Online Academy. , 2021.
  • Taylor, B. D., "Putin's Rules of the Game: The Pitfalls of Russia's New Constitution." In Foreign Affairs [online]. , 2021.
  • Taylor, B. D., "Personality and Power in Russian Foreign Policy." In Project on Russian Power and Purpose in the 21st Century. , 2020.
  • Taylor, B. D., "US-Russia Relations in the Era of High Putinism." In Russia Policy Under the Next U.S. President. , 2020.
  • Taylor, B. D., "Putin's Fourth Term: The Phantom Breakthrough." In PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo. , 2019.
  • Taylor, B. D., "Author's Response: The Code Is Central, but for How Long?." In Asia Policy. , 2019.

Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Annual Convention, "Putin, the Siloviki, and Russia’s Failure" (November, 2022)

Defense Capabilities and Management program, U.S. Government Accountability Office, "Putin's War in Ukraine" (September 12, 2022)

Eurasia International University, Yerevan, Armenia, "Russia-Ukraine: War, Statecraft, and Shifting Geopolitics in Eurasia" (July 8, 2022)

Global Challenges to Democracy Conference, Einaudi Center for International Studies, Cornell University, "The Power Struggle After Putin" (May 13, 2022)

"Trillion Dollar Questions" series, Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University, "Russia's War in Ukraine: Impacts on International (Dis)Order" (May 4, 2022)

MIT Seminar XXI, "Russian Foreign Policy" (April 30, 2022)

Roundtable on Protests, Poison, Prison: Alexei Navalny's Russian Opposition Movement, Hobart & William Smith Colleges, "Navalny vs. Putin" (April 1, 2022)

LeMoyne College, "What is Putin Up To? Understanding the Russia-Ukraine Crisis" (February 23, 2022)

Institute on Russia, University of South Florida, "Russia and NATO" (February 16, 2022)

Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, University of Toronto, "Russia's Attack on Ukraine" (January 31, 2022)

Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Annual Convention, "Book Discussion: Is Russia Fascist?" (December, 2021)

Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Annual Convention, "How Putin Rules" (December, 2021)

Center for Russia, East Europe & Central Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, "Putinism and its Discontents" (March 18, 2021)

Hewett Forum on Post-Soviet Affairs, Brookings Institution, "Main Issues in Russian Domestic Politics" (February 3, 2021)

Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Annual Convention, "Book Discussion: Red Mirror: Putin’s Leadership and Russia’s Insecure Identity" (November, 2020)

Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Annual Convention, "Russian Politics of Peripheries and Global Influence" (November, 2020)

Chatham House (London), "Putin or the System?" (February 20, 2020)

Brigham Young University, "U.S. - Russian Relations Thirty Years After the Berlin Wall" (January 31, 2020)

Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, "Putin, Putinism, & US-Russian Relations" (November 4, 2019)

Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Annual Convention, "Russian Strategic Culture and Operational Code: Conceptual Developments" (November, 2019)

Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Annual Convention, "Variety of Subnational Politics in Post-Communist Regimes" (November, 2019)

Albritton Center for Grand Strategy and Scowcroft Institute for International Affairs, Bush School, Texas A&M University, "Is Russia’s Strategy Based on Ideology?" (October 16, 2019)

PONARS Eurasia Academic Workshop on Modernization, "How Modern is Russian Security Policy-Making?" (March 14, 2019 - March 15, 2019)

Focus on Russia Series, Center for International Studies, MIT, "Putinism" (February 26, 2019)

PONARS Eurasia Policy Conference, "Putin’s Fourth Term: Breakthrough or Stagnation?" (February, 2019)

Fulbright Scholar, European University at St. Petersburg, Russia (January, 2011 - June, 2011)

Carnegie Scholar, Carnegie Corporation of New York (2002 - 2003)

George C. Marshall Scholarship (1987 - 1989)

Harry S. Truman Scholarship (1984 - 1986)