Julian Waller

Dr. Julian G. Waller is a Research Analyst in the Russia Studies Program at CNA and an applied analyst of Russian political-military affairs, elite strategic decision-making, and adversary systems of governance and civil-military relations, as well as the politics of authoritarian rule and illiberal ideologies globally.

He has led or contributed to CNA reports on wartime Russian civil-military relations, Russian-Iranian relations, the Russian General Staff, the Russian military logistics system, Russian strategic competition and military strategy, and developments in Russian AI and autonomy, among other projects. Alongside coauthors, he has recently published a new book on the comparative study of modern authoritarian regimes and their internal politics titled Autocrats Can't Always Get What They Want: State Institutions and Autonomy under Authoritarianism at the University of Michigan Press.

His public research agenda also includes peer-reviewed articles published in The Journal of Advanced Military Studies, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Political Studies Review, The Journal of International Affairs, Problems of Post-Communism, The Journal of Illiberalism Studies, and The International Journal of Constitutional Law, as well as policy and analytic articles in Foreign Affairs, War on the Rocks, The National Interest, American Purpose, American Affairs, RIDDLE Russia, Russia Matters, Russland-Analysen, Russian Analytical Digest, and Baltic Worlds.

He received his Ph.D in Political Science in 2022 from George Washington University. In addition to his CNA work, he teaches Russian Politics as a Professorial Lecturer in Political Science at George Washington University. He speaks Russian.