The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress is pleased to announce the appointment of Timothy Frye as the Library of Congress Chair in US-Russia Relations. Frye began his time at the Kluge Center in January.
Frye is the Marshall D. Shulman Professor of Post-Soviet Foreign Policy in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University. He is the author of numerous scholarly articles and books including “Brokers and Bureaucrats: Building Markets in Russia” (University of Michigan Press, 2000), “Building States and Markets after Communism: The Perils of Polarized Democracy” (Cambridge University Press, 2010), and “Property Rights and Property Wrongs: How Power, Institutions, and Norms Shape Economic Conflict in Russia” (Cambridge University Press, 2017).
His most recent book is “Weak Strongman: The Limits of Power in Putin’s Russia” (Princeton University Press, 2021). Rather than treating Russian politics as an extension of Vladimir Putin’s worldview or Russia’s unique history, “Weak Strongman” emphasizes Russia’s similarities to other autocracies and highlights the difficult trade-offs that confront the Kremlin on issues from election fraud and repression to propaganda and foreign policy.
Frye received a B.A. in Russian language and literature from Middlebury College, an M.I.A. from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University.