About the Chair

Thanks to a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Library of Congress has established two chairs at the John W. Kluge Center specializing in U.S.-Russia and U.S.-China relations. The chairs lead policy-relevant research, programming, and bipartisan legislative discussion on U.S. relations with Russia and China. The focus is on the present state of relations and the public policy challenges likely to face legislators in the future. The Chairs in U.S.-Russia and U.S.-China Relations are appointed by the Librarian of Congress.

Through this chair, the Library seeks to bridge the gap between scholars and policymakers by bringing insights from research to policy and practice.

Most Recent Chair

Timothy Frye

Timothy Frye is the Marshall D. Shulman Professor of Post-Soviet Foreign Policy in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University. He is the author of numerous scholarly articles and books including “Brokers and Bureaucrats: Building Markets in Russia” (University of Michigan Press, 2000), “Building States and Markets after Communism: The Perils of Polarized Democracy” (Cambridge University Press, 2010), and “Property Rights and Property Wrongs: How Power, Institutions, and Norms Shape Economic Conflict in Russia” (Cambridge University Press, 2017). His most recent book is “Weak Strongman: The Limits of Power in Putin’s Russia” (Princeton University Press, 2021). Rather than treating Russian politics as an extension of Vladimir Putin's worldview or Russia's unique history, “Weak Strongman” emphasizes Russia's similarities to other autocracies and highlights the difficult trade-offs that confront the Kremlin on issues from election fraud and repression to propaganda and foreign policy. Frye received a B.A. in Russian language and literature from Middlebury College, an M.I.A. from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University.

View past chairs