Dr. Guzel Garifullina

Dr. Guzel Garifullina, assistant professor of leadership studies, researches comparative politics, authoritarianism, and political behavior. In her research, she investigates the effects of political leadership on governance and the role of selection procedures in encouraging political ambition under authoritarianism. Her main geographic focus is Russia and the post-Soviet region.

Dr. Garifullina earned her doctorate in political science from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill in 2021. Prior to joining the University of Richmond in 2023, she was a postdoctoral scholar at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (Stanford University) and a postdoctoral fellow at the Skalny Center for Polish and Central European Studies (University of Rochester).

Her work has been published in Comparative Political Studies, Europe-Asia Studies, Demoktarizatsiya, and Post-Soviet Affairs. Her recent policy memo reflects on the way the Russian state has filled its ranks with highly cautious functionaries, and a guest blog post draws attention to Russia’s often neglected local politics and its potential for democratization in the future. For more details and updates, visit her personal website at guzelgarifullina.com.