William E. Pomeranz

Senior Fellow; Former Director, Kennan Institute

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Kennan Institute

Term

July 19, 2024 — July 18, 2026

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William Pomeranz, Senior Fellow and former Director of ��ϲ�’s Kennan Institute, is an expert guide to the complexities of political and economic developments in Russia, particularly through the lens of law. He leverages extensive, hands-on experience in international and Russian jurisprudence to address a wide range of legal issues, from the development of Russia’s Constitution to human rights law to foreign investment and sanctions. He is also the author of Law and the Russian State: Russia's Legal Evolution from Peter the Great to Vladimir Putin (Bloomsbury, 2018).

Full Biography

Summary

William Pomeranz, the Senior Fellow and former Director of ��ϲ�’s Kennan Institute, is an expert guide to the complexities of political and economic developments in Russia, particularly through the lens of law. He leverages extensive, hands-on experience in international and Russian jurisprudence to address a wide range of legal issues, from the development of Russia’s Constitution to human rights law to foreign investment and sanctions. He is also the author of Law and the Russian State: Russia's Legal Evolution from Peter the Great to Vladimir Putin (Bloomsbury, 2018).

Full Bio

William Pomeranz is Senior Fellow and former Director of the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars located in Washington, D.C. He also has taught Russian law at the Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies (CERES), Georgetown University. He hold a B.A. from Haverford College, a M.Sc. from the University of Edinburgh, a J.D. cum laude from American University, and a Ph.D. in Russian History from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London.

Prior to joining the Kennan Institute, Dr. Pomeranz practiced international law in the United States and Moscow, Russia. He advised clients on investment in the Russian Federation as well as on U.S. anti-money laundering requirements, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and various U.S. sanctions programs. His research interests include Russian legal history as well current Russian commercial and constitutional law. His academic articles have been published in the Russian Review, Slavonic and East European Review, Kritika, Review of Central and East European Law, Demokratizatsiya, and Problems of Post-Communism. He also has provided commentary and conducted numerous press interviews with CNN, NPR, C-SPAN, Reuters, VOA, Bloomberg, and other media outlets.

Major Publications

Books

Law and the Russian State: Russia's Legal Evolution from Peter the Great to Vladimir Putin. , 2018.

Articles and Chapters

"Putin’s 2020 Constitutional Amendments: What Changed? What Remained the Same,” Russian Politics 6 (2021), 6-26.
“Russia’s Perennial Search for the Rule of Law: Origins, Detours, Revival, Impasse,” The Ideology and Politics Journal 2 (2021), 10 – 30.
“The Persistent Question of Legal Aid in the Professional Development of Russian Lawyers,” Histories of Legal Aid, edited by Felice Batlan and Marianne Vasara-Aaltonen (Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), 29 – 55.
“The Provisional Government and the Law-Based State,” in Russia’s Great War and Revolution, Book 4: Reintegration – The Struggle for the State, edited by Christopher Read, Peter Waldron, and Adele Lindenmeyr (Bloomington: SLAVICA, 2018), 110-137.
“How ‘the State’ Survived the Collapse of the Soviet Union,” in Questioning Post-Soviet, edited by Edward Holland and Matthew Derrick (Washington, DC: ��ϲ�, 2016), 93-102.
“Ground Zero – How a Trade Dispute Sparked the Russia-Ukraine Crisis,” in Roots of Russia’s War in Ukraine (Washington, DC and New York: Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Columbia University Press, 2016), 51-74.
“The Practice of Law and the Promise of Rule-of-Law: The Advokatura and the Civil Process in Tsarist Russia,” Kritika 16, no. 2 (2015).

Op-Eds

"Russia's Broken Constitution," The Russia File, June 26, 2020.
"The Putin Constitution," The Russia File, March 30, 2020.
“Putin’s Cosmetic Constitutionalism,” The Russia File, January 16, 2020.
“Russia’s Resilient Legal Powerhouse: The Procuracy Enters the 21st Century,” Kennan Cable no. 42, June 2019.
“A Traditional State and a Modern Problem: Russia Rewrites its Internet Extremism Laws,” co-authored with Kathleen Smith, Kennan Cable no. 39, December 2018.
“,” The Russia File, June 6, 2018.
“,” NBC Think, October 29, 2017.
“Why Putin will be skipping the 100th anniversary of the Russian revolution,”&�Բ��;&�Բ��;The Russia File, February 22, 2017; reprinted in .
“,” The Mark News, December 8, 2016.
“," Reuters, November 21, 216.
“,” Reuters, October 17, 2016.
“How ‘The State’ Survived the Collapse of the Soviet Union,” Kennan Cable, September 2016.
“,” Reuters, August 22, 2016.
“,” co-authored with Kathleen Smith, Reuters, May 30, 2016.
“Russian Corruption: The Kremlin Fails to Tackle its Biggest Problem,” co-authored with Matt Rojansky, Wilson Perspectives, May 12, 2016.
“,” Reuters, February 3, 2016.
“Breaking the Ukrainian Procuracy,” co-authored with Oksana Nesterenko, Kennan Cable, January 2016.
“,” co-authored with Henri Barkey, CNN, November 24, 2015.
“Does Paris Open a Door for Putin,” Wilson Perspectives: Implications of the Paris Attacks, November 19, 2015.
“,” Reuters, September 28, 2015.
“,” The Ripon Forum, September 2015.
“,” Reuters, May 1, 2015.
“” Reuters, March 19, 2015.
“” Co-authored with Kathleen Smith, The Mark News, February 26, 2015.
“,” Reuters, January 7, 2015.
“,” European Leadership Network, November 12, 2014.
“,” Reuters, November 4, 2014.
“” America’s Trade Policy, October 14, 2014.
“,” Reuters, September 26, 2014.
“,”&�Բ��;&�Բ��; Louisville Courier-Journal, September 12, 2014.
“,” Reuters, August 12, 2014.
“” Reuters, July 23, 2014.
“,” The National Interest, July 21, 2014.
“,” Reuters, May 19, 2014.
“,” Reuters, March 18, 2014.
“,” Reuters, February 19, 2014.
“” The National Interest, February 15, 2014.
“,” Reuters, January 31, 2014.
“,” co-authored by Matthew Rojansky, World Politics Review, January 14, 2014.
“,” Reuters, December 31, 2013.
“,” Reuters, November 25, 2013
“,” The National Interest, October 28, 2013.
“,” Kennan Institute.
“,” September 3, 2013, CNN World.
“,” Reuters, September 3, 2013.
“,” CNN World, July 24, 2013.
“,” Reuters, July 5, 2013.
“,” The National Interest, May 7, 2013.
“,” Reuters, April 12, 2013.
“,” CNN World, March 22, 2013.
“,” TheNational Interest, January 23, 2013.

Previous Terms

May 01, 1991 - Jun 01, 1991, "Political Trials in Tsarist Russia"

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