Brian Taylor

Associate Professor, Political Science

Degree

Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1998

Specialties

Comparative politics, Russian politics

Publications

Books

State Building in Putin's Russia: Policing and Coercion After Communism (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2010).

Politics and the Russian Army: Civil-Military Relations, 1689-2000 (Cambridge University Press, 2003). 

Recent Articles

“Tilly Tally: War-Making and State-Making in the Contemporary Third World.” International Studies Review,  Vol. 10, No 1 (March 2008), pp. 27-56 (With Roxana Botea).

Putin’s ‘Historic Mission’: State-Building and the Power Ministries in the North Caucasus.”  Problems of Post-Communism, Vol. 54, No. 6 (November-December 2007), pp. 3-16.

 

“Force and Federalism: Controlling Coercion in Federal Hybrid Regimes.” Comparative Politics, Vol, 39, No. 4 (July 2007), pp. 421-440.

“Law Enforcement and Civil Society in Russia.” Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 58, No. 2 (March 2006), pp. 193-213.

Courses

Politics of Russia   (UG)

Russian and Post-Soviet Politics   (G)

Comparative Civil-Military Relations   (G)

Politics and the Military   (UG) 

Research Interests

My research focuses on the role of state coercive organizations, such as the military and the police, in domestic politics. Additional interests include comparative state-building and comparative federalism. My geographic area of specialization is Russia and the post-Soviet region.

Research Projects

I have recently completed a book on Russia's power ministries, especially law enforcement structures, and their role in state building in the post-Soviet period.  Other projects include reform of law enforcement structures in Russia, patrimonialism in the power ministries in post-soviet countries, and the implications for civil-military relations theory of the changing nature of war and states.