Russian Studies Workshop

Otto Kienitz is a PhD student in Comparative Politics at the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests include the historical comparative study of democracy, democratization, and democratic institutions in post-Communist Europe and Eurasia with a particular focus on Russian politics: the development and manipulation of electoral systems, contemporary regime dynamics vis-a-vis the political economy of welfare, and the historical legacies of imperial democratization. Prior to attending Berkeley, Otto received his B.A. (Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude) in Diplomatic History from the University of Pennsylvania (with coursework in political science and comparative literature), and an M.A. in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the European University at St. Petersburg (where his dissertation was overseen by Alexei Miller and Vladimir Gel'man). At IU, Otto has studied Russian in the Language Workshop.