Expert Bio

Summary

William Pomeranz, the Senior Fellow and former Director of the Wilson Center’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.

Wilson Center Project

“Transitional Justice and Russian Legal History."

Major Publications

Books

• Law and the Russian State: Russia's Legal Evolution from Peter the Great to Vladimir Putin. Bloomsbury, 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: The Wilson Center, 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 Ever-Shrinking World of Russian Politics,” The Russia File, June 6, 2018.
• “What does Putin want? To maintain his power no matter what,” NBC Think, October 29, 2017.
• “Why Putin will be skipping the 100th anniversary of the Russian revolution,”  The Russia File, February 22, 2017;  reprinted in Newsweek.
• “Putin’s Breakout Year,” The Mark News, December 8, 2016.
• “Putin will pay a High Price for Trump’s Friendship," Reuters, November 21, 216.
• “The Stunning Audacity of Putin’s Cash Demands,” Reuters, October 17, 2016.
• “How ‘The State’ Survived the Collapse of the Soviet Union,” Kennan Cable, September 2016.
• “Putin’s Ever-Shrinking Circle Shows a Return to Soviet Politics,” Reuters, August 22, 2016.
• “Putin’s Domestic Strategy: Counting the Trees, Missing the Forest,” 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.
• “A Whiff of Panic in the Kremlin as Russia’s Economy Sinks Further,” Reuters, February 3, 2016.
• “Breaking the Ukrainian Procuracy,” co-authored with Oksana Nesterenko, Kennan Cable, January 2016.
• “Assad Only Winner After Russian Jet Downed,” 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.
• “Imperial Overreach: How Putin’s Move Into Syria Could Bring Down his Government,” Reuters, September 28, 2015.
• “Is Time Working For or Against Putin,” The Ripon Forum, September 2015.
• “The EU may soon have Gazprom and Putin Running on Fumes,”  Reuters, May 1, 2015.
• “Vladimir Putin is Treading Water in a Sea of Red Ink.”   Reuters, March 19, 2015.
• “Russia, Repression, and the Rule of Law.”  Co-authored with Kathleen Smith, The Mark News, February 26, 2015.
• “Vladimir Putin’s Economic Plan: Bread and Vodka,” Reuters, January 7, 2015.
• “Putin in Brisbane: Down Under but Not Out,”  European Leadership Network, November 12, 2014.
• “Putin Created an Economic Crisis and Left Moscow No Easy Way Out,” Reuters, November 4, 2014.
• “How to Resolve the Ukraine Crisis – Start with Trade,”  America’s Trade Policy, October 14, 2014.
• “Is There a New Crack in the West’s Sanctions Regime Against Russia,” Reuters, September 26, 2014.
• “A Century after WWI, Russia Again Imperial,”   Louisville Courier-Journal, September 12, 2014.
• “Putin’s Already Paying Dearly for Ukraine, and Looks Willing to Sacrifice Much More,” Reuters, August 12, 2014.
• “Sanctions Finally Find Russia’s Achilles Heel,” Reuters, July 23, 2014.
• “Russia’s Economy Turns to a Blast from the Past: The New Economic Policy,” The National Interest, July 21, 2014.
• “The Best Role for Kiev Provisional Government? Exiting,” Reuters, May 19, 2014.
• “Putin’s Imperial Hangover,” Reuters, March 18, 2014.
• “Ukraine after the Maidan,”  Reuters, February 19, 2014.
• “Russia’s Sliding Ruble,” The National Interest, February 15, 2014.
• “Moscow Fiddles, while Kiev Burns,” Reuters, January 31, 2014.
• “Putin’s Judicial Vertical: Russian Rule of Law Takes a Step Backward,” co-authored by Matthew Rojansky, World Politics Review, January 14, 2014.
• “Putin’s (un)happy new year,” Reuters, December 31, 2013.
• “Russia: Where Has All The Money Gone,” Reuters, November 25, 2013
• “Russia’s Fading Judiciary,” The National Interest, October 28, 2013.
• “Economic Rights and the Russian Constitution,”  Kennan Institute.
• “Why Russia Needs the BRICS,” September 3, 2013, CNN World.
• “Common Ground for Putin and Obama is Offshore,” Reuters,  September 3, 2013.
• “Will Russians Heed Navalny’s Call to Action,” CNN World, July 24, 2013.
• “How Russia Puts Business Behind Bars,” Reuters, July 5, 2013.
• “Putin’s Unsteady Year,” The National Interest, May 7, 2013. 
• “Russia after Cyprus: Bringing the Money Home,” Reuters, April 12, 2013. 
• “Cyprus: Caught Between Russia and a Hard Place,” CNN World, March 22, 2013.
• “Russia’s Global Trade Agenda,” The National Interest, January 23, 2013.

Previous Terms

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