International Forum for Democratic Studies Research Council

Robert Orttung

The George Washington University

Robert Orttung is assistant director of the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies and an associate research professor of international affairs at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. He is also president of the Resource Security Institute and a non-resident scholar at the Center for Security Studies of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. He previously worked at the Jefferson Institute; the Terrorism, Transnational Crime, and Corruption Center of American University; the EastWest Institute in New York, and the Open Media Research Institute in Prague.

He has co-edited and written a number of books, including most recently: Energy and the Transformation of International Relations (Oxford University Press, 2009) and Russian Energy Power and Foreign Relations: Implications for Conflict and Cooperation (Routledge, 2009). He has published numerous academic articles, including “Explaining Patterns of Corruption in the Russian Regions,” World Politics 57:4, July 2005. He is the managing editor of Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization and co-editor of the Russian Analytical Digest and the Caucasus Analytical Digest, biweekly electronic newsletters that examine regional political and economic developments. Additionally, for the last several years, he has written reports about Russia, Ukraine, and Crimea for Freedom House. Dr. Orttung received a B.A. in Russian Studies from Stanford University and both a M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles.


Forum Publications

“Breaking the News: The Role of State-Run Media”, co-authored with Christopher Walker, Journal of Democracy (Jan. 2014)

Forum Events

“Breaking the News: The Role of Authoritarian State-Run Media,” Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, The George Washington University (Jan. 28, 2014)

“Putin vs. Civil Society,” International Forum for Democratic Studies (Sept. 30, 2013)

“Enemies of the State: Pussy Riot and the New Russian Protest Rock,” Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, The George Washington University (Feb. 19, 2013)

Forum News

“Authoritarian Regimes Re-Tool Their Media Control Strategies,” op-ed co-authored with Christopher Walker, Washington Post (Jan. 10, 2014)

“News by and for the Authorities,” op-ed co-authored with Christopher Walker, New York Times, (April 5, 2013)

“Putin and Russia’s Crippled Media,” co-authored with Christopher Walker, Russian Analytical Digest (Feb. 21, 2013)

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