Timothy Colton

Jeffrey Collins

Brahma Chellaney

Samuel Charap

Giulietto Chiesa (1940 - 2020)

Steve Clemons

Carmen Claudin

Mesut Hakkı Caşın

Pavel Cheremisin

Alan W. Cafruny

Timothy Colton

United States

Professor of Government and Russian Studies, Harvard University

Past director of Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies; Co-chair of Working Group on the Future of Russian-American Relations; Has participated in the Valdai Discussion Club meetings since 2004.

Research interests: national and international politics of Russia and Eurasia. Books and articles include Transitional Citizens: Voters and What Influences Them in the New Russia (2000); Popular Choice and Managed Democracy (with Michael McFaul, 2003); The State after Communism (with Stephen Holmes, 2006); Yeltsin: A Life (2008); Leadership and the Politics of Modernization in Russia: The Challenges of Transformation (ed. by Piotr Dutkiewicz and Dmitri Trenin, 2011); Russia: What Everyone Needs to Know (2016); Everyone Loses: The Ukraine Crisis and the Ruinous Contest for Post-Soviet Eurasia (with Samuel Charap, 2017).

Materials

Opinions

What Does Putin’s Conservatism Seek to Conserve?

Putin a politician and leader, not an academician. His conservatism should be judged accordingly. It is a work in progress and is part but by no means the whole of the mental apparatus he brings to his role, writes Valdai Club expert Timothy Colton.

17.01.2022

Opinions

Looking Forward to the Little Summit That Could

On the positive side, both governments have repeatedly declared an interest in “strategic stability” and a more predictable and manageable relationship. Some of this is hot air, but not all. Look for one or two concrete products from June 16 as a benchmark of whether the principals are capable of converting words into deeds.

15.06.2021

Opinions

The Helsinki Summit – Can the Election-Interference Shadow Be Lifted?

The pair called for “constructive dialogue” without revealing any concrete results from the talks, other than plans for aides to follow up. They did hint at progress toward an understanding over Syria, presumably involving mutual acceptance of continuance of the Assad regime and Russian restraints on Iran, which Trump indicated would be packaged for domestic consumption as protection of Israel. There was only glancing reference to that summit staple, nuclear arms control, and clear evidence of continued disagreement over Iran and Ukraine (though not over North Korea).