Scott Radnitz

Professor, Herbert J. Ellison Professor of Russian and Eurasian Studies
Scott Radnitz

Contact

About

Scott Radnitz is the Herbert J. Ellison Professor of Russian and Eurasian Studies in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington.  His research deals primarily with the post-Soviet region and topics such as protests, authoritarianism, informal networks, and identity. His work employs surveys, focus groups, and experimental methodologies.

For the 2022-23 academic year, he is a Jean Monnet Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, part of the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.

His forthcoming book is Enemies Within: The Global Politics of Fifth Columns, edited with Harris Mylonas (GWU), is under contract with Oxford University Press.

His most recent book Revealing Schemes: The Politics of Conspiracy in Russia and the Post-Soviet Region came out with Oxford University Press in 2021. It investigates why politicians in the region promote conspiratorial claims and what effects that has.

His first book, Weapons of the Wealthy: Predatory Regimes and Elite-Led Protests in Central Asia, was published by Cornell University Press in 2010. Articles have appeared in journals including Comparative PoliticsComparative Political StudiesBritish Journal of Political Science, Journal of DemocracyPolitical Geography, Political Communication, and Post-Soviet Affairs. Policy commentary has appeared in Foreign PolicyThe National InterestThe Guardian, Slate, and the Monkey Cage/Washington Post blog.

He is an associate editor of Communist and Post-Communist Studies, a faculty member at UW’s Center for an Informed Public, and a member of the Program on New Approaches to Research and Security (PONARS) in Eurasia.

He teaches the following courses: States, Markets, and Societies; Contemporary Central Asian Politics; Post-Soviet Security; Interdisciplinary Survey of Eurasia; Failed States; Research Design and Methods; and Social Movements and Revolutions.


Education

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ph.D., 2007
  • University of California at Berkeley, B.A. Political Science, 2000

Selected Publications


Latest Scott Radnitz News