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Timothy Frye on Muck Rack

Timothy Frye

New York
As seen in: CNN, Medium, The Washington Post, Columbia News, U.S. News and World Report, Salon, Foreign Affairs, The National Interest, Government Executive, War on the Rocks and
Covers:  Russia, Autocracy, Corruption, Voting, US-Russia relations, sanctions,
Doesn't Cover: Central Asia
Professor, @ColumbiaPoliSci; @HarrimanInst, Editor, Post-Soviet Affairs, author of Weak Strongman, @PrincetonUPress, 2021. @timfrye@bsky.social

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Timothy Frye’s Biography

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I'm the Marshall D. Shulman Professor in the Political Science Department at Columbia University. I've been writing about Russia, Eurasia, and Eastern Europe for the last 30 years in a range of formats from books to op-ed pieces. Much of my work translates recent work in social science on corruption, autocracy, voting, and other topics for a general audience.

Timothy Frye’s Journalist Portfolio

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Opinion | Putin touts Russia as a great power. But he's made it a weak one.

Opinion | Putin touts Russia as a great power. But he's made it a weak one.

June 6 From Venezuela to Syria to Ukraine, Moscow is playing an assertive role in global affairs. Observers o…

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Analysis | Russians don't trust Putin as much as they did last year. And they don't trust other p...

Analysis | Russians don't trust Putin as much as they did last year. And they don't trust other p...

June 4 This week, Russian news reported that trust in President Vladimir Putin fell to its lowest level in 13…

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Russian Studies is Thriving, not Dying

Russian Studies is Thriving, not Dying

As U.S.-Russian relations continue to spiral downwards, popular commentators decry the lack of expertise on R…

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Analysis | Are sanctions pushing Russians to 'rally around the flag'? Not exactly.

Analysis | Are sanctions pushing Russians to 'rally around the flag'? Not exactly.

June 15, 2017 Russia has faced Western economic sanctions since the middle of 2014 - but President Vladimir P…

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Wouldn't it be nice? How the Russia investigation intersects with real-world U.S. foreign policy ...

Wouldn't it be nice? How the Russia investigation intersects with real-world U.S. foreign policy ...

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump asked a good question: "Wouldn't it be nice if we actually got alon…

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Trump, Putin and Flynnghazi: The president's apparent reversal on Russia and Crimea isn't all tha...

Trump, Putin and Flynnghazi: The president's apparent reversal on Russia and Crimea isn't all tha...

While the aftershocks of Flynnghazi continue to roil Washington, something has changed in the Trump administr…

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Articles

Reflections on U.S. Soft Power

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By Timothy Frye
| harriman.columbia.edu
Reflections on U.S. Soft Power A former Harriman Director recalls his participation in U.S. soft power projects and considers the consequences of Trump’s America First policy. Each day they arrived early: Uzbeks and Ukrainians, Georgians and Russians, lined up between temporary steel barricades to enter “Information USA,” a U.S. Department of State cultural exhibit that traveled across the Soviet Union from 1986 to 1988.
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Putin’s Hidden Weakness

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By Bryn Rosenfeld, Henry Hale, Ora John Reuter, Timothy Frye
| Revista de Prensa "Almendrón" Verified
In Russia’s presidential election in mid-March, Russian President Vladimir Putin officially won his fifth term with 87 percent of the vote and the highest reported turnout in the country’s post-Soviet history. Indeed, by most measures, Putin remains popular. Opinion surveys just before the election pegged his approval rating above 80 percent. Some voters are likely afraid to tell pollsters otherwise, of course, but for an autocrat, that kind of fear is almost as good as real support.
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Putin’s Hidden Weakness

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By Timothy Frye, Henry Hale, Ora John Reuter, Bryn Rosenfeld
| Foreign Affairs Verified
In Russia’s presidential election in mid-March, Russian President Vladimir Putin officially won his fifth term with 87 percent of the vote and the highest reported turnout in the country’s post-Soviet history. Indeed, by most measures, Putin remains popular. Opinion surveys just before the election pegged his approval rating above 80 percent. Some voters are likely afraid to tell pollsters otherwise, of course, but for an autocrat, that kind of fear is almost as good as real support.
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Interview

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Have you ever used a typewriter?

Of course, I'm 55 years old.

How is social media changing news?

For the better for the most part. I write on international topics and social media follows many topics that would go unreported.

Why did you become a journalist?

I write to influence public debate on important topic, especially debates that I think are wrong-headed or not rooted in evidence.