Faculty

Profile

Nina Khrushcheva is Professor in the Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs of International Affairs at The New School. She is an editor of and a contributor to Project Syndicate: Association of Newspapers Around the World. After receiving her Ph.D. from Princeton University, she had a two-year appointment as a research fellow at the School of Historical Studies of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and then served as Deputy Editor of East European Constitutional Review at the NYU School of Law. She is a member of Council on Foreign Relations, a recipient of Great Immigrants: The Pride of America Award from Carnegie Corporation of New York in 2013 and of a 2019 Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage from Trinity College Dublin. Her articles have appeared in Foreign Policy, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and other publications. She is the author of Imagining Nabokov: Russia Between Art and Politics (Yale UP, 2008), The Lost Khrushchev: A Journey Into the Gulag of the Russian Mind (Tate, 2014), and co-author of In Putin's Footsteps: Searching for the Soul of an Empire Across Russia's Eleven Time Zones (St. Martin's Press, 2019). Her books in Russian include Visiting Nabokov (Vremya, 2008) and Nikita Khrushchev: An Outlier of the System (Diletant, 2024).

Degrees Held

Ph.D., Princeton University

Professional Affiliation

Council on Foreign Relations (New York, USA)

Kreisky Forum for International Dialogue (Vienna, Austria)

Recent Publications

Books

1. Nikita Khrushchev: Vozhd vne Sistemy (Nikita Khrushchev: An Outlier of the System), Diletant, 2024 (in Russian)

2.  In Putin's Footsteps: Searching for the Soul of an Empire Across Russia's Eleven Time Zones (with Jeffrey Tayler), St. Martin's Press, 2019

3. The Lost Khrushchev: A Journey Into the Gulag of the Russian Mind, Tate Publishing, 2014 (also in Russian, published by AIRO-XXI in 2019)

4. Small World: Roman v Neromanakh (Small World: A Novel in Novellas), Vremya, 2009 (in Russian) 

5. V Gostyakh u Nabokova (Visiting Nabokov), Vremya, 2008 (in Russian)

6. Imagining Nabokov: Russia Between Art and Politics, Yale University Press, 2008

Select Journal Articles & Book Chapters

1. "The Metamorphosis of Frank Walter," Frank Walter's Chessboard (exibition catalogue, Xavier Hufkens Publications, Brussels, Belgium, 2022)
2. “The Coup in the Kremlin,” Foreign Affairs, May 10, 2022
3. “Introduction: A Carnival for All Time,” Find Yourself: Carnival and Resistance, Antigua and Barbuda National Pavilion Catalogue, 58th Venice Art Biennale 2019, Italy
4. “Defeating the Cold War Victory: The Return of Russian Monumentality” in Monument to Cold War Victory, edited by Yevgeniy Fiks, Stamatina Gregory (The Cooper Union, 2018)
5. “Introduction: In Between Heaven and Hell, Islands of Utopia and Dystopia,” Environmental Justice as a Civil Right, Antigua and Barbuda National Pavilion Catalogue, Venice Architectural Biennale 2018, Italy
6. “The enemies of those people: life in Trump’s USA,” Index on Censorship, Summer 2017
7. Introduction “The Imaginative Reality of Frank Walter’s Universe” in Barbara Paca, Frank Walter: The Last Universal Man, 1926-2009 (Radius Books, 2017), in conjunction with the Antigua Pavilion Frank Walter exhibition, Venice Biennale 2017
8. "Russia's Identity of Perpetual Crisis" in Liah Greenfeld, ed., Globalisation of Nationalism (Colchester, UK: ECPR Press, 2016) 
9. "Putin v. Purse Power: Confronting International Laws, Russian Style," Social Research: International Quarterly, Winter 2015
10. Epilogue "A Visionary from Hope" in Barbara Paca, Ruth Starr Rose (1887-1965): Revelations of African American Life in Maryland and the World (Baltimore, MD: Reginald F. Lewis Museum, 2015), in conjunction with Ruth Starr Rose exhibition, Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Baltimore, MD, Oct 10, 2015-Apr 3, 2016
11. Romancing True Power: D20 Journal, with Yiqing Wang (Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy Publication, 2015), in conjunction with Romancing True Power: D20 exhibition, Parsons The New School for Design, Feb 12-26, 2015
12. “Een verlangen naar propaganda” [A Desire for Propaganda], Nexus 67: Fall 2014 (in Dutch)
13. “Inside Vladimir Putin’s Mind: Looking Back in Anger,” World Affairs, July-August 2014
14. “Once KGB Agent, Always a KGB Agent,” excerpt from The Lost Khrushchev: A Journey into the Gulag of the Russian Mind, Newsweek, May 14, 2014
15. “A Breath of Fresh Air in the Kremlin,” excerpt from The Lost Khrushchev: A Journey into the Gulag of the Russian Mind, Newsweek, May 13, 2014
16. “Khrushchev: Hero or Villain?” excerpt from The Lost Khrushchev: A Journey into the Gulag of the Russian Mind, Newsweek, May 12, 2014
17. “Change Nobody Believes in” in IWMPost No. 106, January-March 2011 (p. 13)
18. Chapter “Russia, A Revolutionary Life” in Anthony Anemone, ed., Just Assassins: The Culture of Terrorism in Russia (Northwestern University Press, 2010)
19. “De grijze massa van het poetinisme” [The Grey Matter of Putinism], Nexus 54: Summer 2010 (in Dutch)

Recent Newspaper & Magazine Articles

1. "Russia’s Nostalgia Machine," published by Project Syndicate, January 2025 (See all Project Syndicate contributions)
2. "Does a Savage War of Partition Await Ukraine?", published by Project Syndicate, December 2024
3. “How Trump Won,” published by Project Syndicate, November 2024 
4. “First Trump Came for the Immigrants,” published by Project Syndicate, October 2024
5. “The Sources of Russian Conduct,” published by Project Syndicate, September 2024
6. “When Art Is All That Remains, published by Project Syndicate, August 2024. This commentary is an adaptation of keynote speech, “Idealism of Art in Times of War and Peace,” delivered at the 2024 Salzburg Festival
7. “Biden Rejects the Drug of Power,” published by Project Syndicate, July 2024 (See all Project Syndicate contributions)
8. “The Demigods of Populism,” published by Project Syndicate, June 2024
9. “The Fragile Fraternity of China and Russia,” published by Project Syndicate, May 2024 (Berlingske, Denmark, Morgunblaðið, Iceland)
10. “Russia’s Battle of the Ministries,” published by Project Syndicate, May 2024
11. “The Oligarch, His Ex-Wife, Her Mother, and Rupert Murdoch,” published by Project Syndicate, March 2024 (Vijesti, Montenegro)
12. “The Lonesome Death of Alexei Navalny,” published by Project Syndicate, February 2024 (Der Standard, Austria)
13. “Preparing Russia for Permanent War,” published by Project Syndicate, January 2024 (Irish Examiner, Ireland)
14. “The West Must Face Reality in Ukraine,” published by Project Syndicate, December 2023 (The Globe and Mail, Canada, Novaya Gazeta-Europe, Russia, Morgunblaðið, Iceland)
15. “Putin’s Killer Patriotism,” published by Project Syndicate, November 2023 (Le Tempts, Switzerland)
16. “Russian Life Imitates Dystopian Art,” published by Project Syndicate, (Novaya Gazeta-Europe, Russia) October 2023
17. “Putin’s Killer Patriotism,” published by Project Syndicate, November 2023 (Le Tempts, Switzerland) (See all Project Syndicate contributions) 
18. “Russian Life Imitates Dystopian Art,” published by Project Syndicate, (Novaya Gazeta-Europe, Russia) October 2023
19. “Putin and Kim’s Cartoon Summit,” published by Project Syndicate, September 2023 
20. “Putin’s History Lessons,” published by Project Syndicate, August 2023
21. “Russia’s Fractured State,” published by Project Syndicate, July 2023 (Moscow Times, Russia, Ta Nea, Greece, Reporter, Albania)
22. “Twenty-Four Hours That Shook the Kremlin,” published by Project Syndicate, June 2023 (Morgunblaðið, Iceland)
23. “Russia’s New Rasputin,” published by Project Syndicate, June 2023 (Die Presse, Austria, Peščanik, Serbia, Új Szó, Slovakia)
24. “How Russians Fight,” published by Project Syndicate, April 2023
25. “Xi’s the Boss,” published by Project Syndicate, March 2023
26. “Russian Culture in the Gulag,” published by Project Syndicate, February 2023
27. “Assassinated Are the Peacemakers?” published by Project Syndicate, January 2023 
28. “Russian Muppets or American Puppets?” published by Project Syndicate, January 2023
29. “War and Populism,” published by Project Syndicate, December 2022
30. “From Cuban Missiles to Putin’s Crisis,” published by Project Syndicate, October 2022
31. “The Kremlin’s Suicidal Imperialism,” published by Project Syndicate, October 2022
32. “Pomp and Populism,” published by Project Syndicate, September 2022
33. “The Greatest Democrat Russia Ever Had,” published by Project Syndicate, September 2022
34. “The Republican God That Failed,” published by Project Syndicate, August 2022 (Die Presse, Austria, The Globe and Mail, Canada)
35. “Far-right Populists Come Out of the Racist Closet,” published by Project Syndicate, July-August 2022 (The Japan Times, Japan)
36. “Don’t Cancel Russian Culture,” published by Project Syndicate, June 2022
37. “Unhappy Birthday, Andrei Sakharov,” published by Project Syndicate, May 2022
38. “The Origins of Putin’s Totalitarianism,” published by Project Syndicate, April 2022 (Irish Examiner, Ireland) 
39. “Putin’s War Will Destroy Russia,” published by Project Syndicate, March 2022 (Clarin, Argentina, The Globe and Mail, Canada)
40. “How Putin’s arrogant historical revisionism blinds him in Ukraine,” NBCThink, March 4, 2022
41. “What’s on Putin’s Mind?” published by Project Syndicate, February 2022 (The Globe and Mail, Canada)
42. “Putin Is No Nixon,” published by Project Syndicate, February 2022
43. “Kazakhstan and the Price of Russia’s Empire,” published by Project Syndicate, January 2022 (Berlingske, Denmark)
44. “What the US Misunderstands About Russia,” published by Project Syndicate, December 2021 (The Globe and Mail, Canada)
45. “Send Out the Clowns,” published by Project Syndicate, November 2021
46. “Russia’s Communist Comeback,” published by Project Syndicate, October 2021 (Morgunblaðið, Iceland)
47. “Homophobes and Autocrats,” published by Project Syndicate, September 2021 (Ta Nea, Greece)
48. "The Failed Coup that Failed Russia,” published by Project Syndicate, August 2021 (Irish Examiner, Ireland)
49. “The Gospel According to Q,” published by Project Syndicate, July 2021 (La Nacion, Argentina)
50. “An Update on the Cuban Missile Crisis,” published by Project Syndicate, June 2021 (Die Presse, Austria)
51. “Prosecute the Populists?” published by Project Syndicate, May 2021
52. “Stalin’s War and Peace,” Project Syndicate OnPoint, May 7, 2021 
53. “G.I. Joe Trotsky,” published by Project Syndicate, April 2021
54. “Disorder from the Courts,” published by Project Syndicate, March 2021
55. “Can Navalny Take Down Putin?” published by Project Syndicate, February 2021
56. “Who Profits from the Assault on American Democracy?” published by Project Syndicate, January 2021
57. “Even a Squashed Coup Can Set the Course for Authoritarianism. Just Ask Russia,” Vanity Fair, January 12, 2021
58. “Ten Hours that Shook America,” published by Project Syndicate, January 2021 (L’Orient-Le Jour, Lebanon, Los Tiempos, Bolivia)
59. “Trump’s tyranny proved America isn’t immune to authoritarianism. But we can survive it,” NBCThink, December 28, 2020
60. “Ivanka the Inevitable?” published by Project Syndicate, December 2020 (See all Project Syndicate contributions)
61. “Donald Trump, Made in America,” published by Project Syndicate, November 2020 (Irish Examiner, Ireland, Pescanik, Serbia)
62. “Has Putin Lost His Mojo?” published by Project Syndicate, October 2020 (Novoe Vremya, Ukraine)
63. “The Buck Stops with Putin,” published by Project Syndicate, September 2020 (Tema, Albania, Los Tiempos, Bolivia, The Australian, Australia)
64. “Vor unseren Augen wird eine Nation erschaffen” (A nation is being created in front of our eyes), interview with Svetlana Alexievich, Profil, September 20, 2020 (in German)
65. “The View from Here (Here being Minsk): Conversation with Svetlana Alexievich,” Air Mail, September 5, 2020
66. “Belarus Is Putin’s to Lose,” published by Project Syndicate, August 2020 (Der Standard, Austria)
67. “Escape from New York: A Daughter of the Kremlin Goes Home,” Journal of the Plague Year, August 16, 2020
68. “Trump and Putin by the Book,” published by Project Syndicate, July 2020 (See all Project Syndicate contributions)
69. “The Long March of ‘General’ William Barr,” published by Project Syndicate, June 2020
70. “Russian Derangement Syndrome,” published by Project Syndicate, May 2020 (Berlingske, Denmark)
71. “Trump’s coronavirus lies and propaganda suggest America needs its own ‘perestroika’,” NBCThink, May 25, 2020
72. “The Fog of COVID-19 War Propaganda,” published by Project Syndicate, April 2020 (Haaretz, Israel, Ta Nea, Greece)
73. “From Dreyfus to the Donald,” published by Project Syndicate, March 2020 (La Nacion, Costa Rica)
74. “Comrade Trump,” published by Project Syndicate, February 2020 (El Confidencial, Spain)
75. "The Story in History: Interview with Svetlana Alexievich, the 2015 Nobel Prize Winner in Literature," published by Project Syndicate, January 10, 2020
76. “The Assassin’s False Creed,” published by Project Syndicate, January 2020 (The Japan Times, Japan)  
77. “Putin’s Pipelines to Power,” published by Project Syndicate, December 2019 (Dennik N, Slovakia; Kyiv Post, Ukraine) 
78. “Putin Means Money,” published by Project Syndicate, November 2019 (New Europe, Belgium)
79. “Understanding Russia: The Challenges of Transformation,” a review, Foreign Affairs, November/December 2019
80. "The Silence of the Republican Lambs,” published by Project Syndicate, October 2019
81. “Pasta Putin-esca. Syrian candy and North Korean kimchi: Moscow adds Stalinist spice to its cuisine,” Air Mail, October 19, 2019
82. “Putin the Bond villain is the king of unfairness,” Standpoint (UK), September 18, 2019
83. “Boris the Bolshevik,” published by Project Syndicate, September 2019 (Financial News, UK)
84. “When Leninists Overreach,” published by Project Syndicate, August 2019 (Los Tiempos, Bolivia)
85. “Women on Top in the World’s Democracies,” published by Project Syndicate, July 2019 (The Globe and Mail, Canada)
86. “Russia’s decision to free Ivan Golunov shows protests against Kremlin despotism are working,” NBCThink, June 18, 2019
87. “Should the Russians Hug the Chinese?” published by Project Syndicate, June 2019 (Der Tagesspiegel, Germany, The Australian)
88. “Ukraine’s New President Joins the Resistance,” published by Project Syndicate, May 2019 (La Nacion, Costa Rica)
89. “Ukraine Sends in the Clown,” published by Project Syndicate, April 2019 (Dagens Perspektiv, Norway)
90. “Russia’s Crimea invasion was good for Putin. But five years later the nationalist glow is gone,” NBCThink, March 18, 2019
91. “The Trumping of Ukraine,” published by Project Syndicate, March 2019 (My Republica, Nepal)
92. “Wag the Dictator,” published by Project Syndicate, February 2019 (Hindustan Times, India)
93. “Trump’s wall with Mexico follows in the footsteps of authoritarian leaders throughout history,” NBCThink, January 8, 2019
94. “Putin’s Semi-Free Press Problem,” published by Project Syndicate, January 2019 (Kosova Sot, Kosovo)
95. “Is Trump Duping Putin?” published by Project Syndicate, November 2018 (La Repubblica, Italy)
96. “The New Disappeared,” published by Project Syndicate, October 2018 (The Daily Star, Lebanon)
97. “Has Putin’s Popularity Bubble Burst?” published by Project Syndicate, September 2018 (The Globe and Mail, Canada)
98. “Erdoğan’s Authoritarian Quackery,” published by Project Syndicate, August 2018 (Dagens Perspektiv, Norway)
99. “Trump’s Gambling Problem,” published by Project Syndicate, July 2018 (The Australian, Australia)
100. “Trump’s admiration for Putin has made him stunningly easy to manipulate,” NBCThink, July 21, 2018
101. “A Crisis of Ethical Leadership,” published by Project Syndicate, June 2018 (Kristeligt Dagblad, Denmark)
102. “A New Keeper of Putin’s Secrets,” published by Project Syndicate, May 2018 (Gulf Times, Qatar, Ta Nea, Greece)
103. “What Putin Won in Russia’s Election,” published by Project Syndicate, March 2018 (The Daily Star, Lebanon)
104. “What Putin Wants in Syria,” published by Project Syndicate, February 2018 (O Estado de S. Paulo, Brazil)
105. “Trump may wish he was a dictator. Luckily for America, he seems incapable of being one,” NBCThink, February 15, 2018
106. “Donald Trump Meets Davos Man,” published by Project Syndicate, January 2018 (The Globe and Mail, Canada)
107. “Donald Trump’s Not Quite Like Joseph Stalin. But His ‘Fake News Awards’ Should Scare Us,” NBCThink, January 17, 2017
108. “Profiles in Cowardice,” published by Project Syndicate, December 2017 (Hindustan Times, India)
109. “The Last Silovik?” published by Project Syndicate, November 2017 (The Australian, Australia)
110. “Trump’s Republican Collaborators,” published by Project Syndicate, October 2017 (The Irish Examiner, Ireland)
111. “The Return of the Madman Theory,” published by Project Syndicate, September 2017 (La Nacion, Costa Rica)
112. “How Women Lived Under Soviet Rule,” The Atlantic, September 2017
113. “Guilty Man,” published by Project Syndicate, August 2017
114. “Putin and Trump’s Tainted Love,” published by Project Syndicate, July 2017 (The Globe and Mail, Canada, Hindustan Times, India)
115. “The Death of the Party,” published by Project Syndicate, June 2017 (Jordan Times, The Jakarta Post, Indonesia)
116. “The Eruption of Moscow’s Housing Estates,” published by Project Syndicate, May 2017
117. “Trump Stumbles into Putin’s Syrian Backyard,” published by Project Syndicate, April 2017
118. “When Obama is Always Listening,” published by Project Syndicate, March 2017
119. “Melania Trump is the perfect autocrat’s wife,” Quartz, March 3, 2017

Please see full list of articles here

Research Interests

Global Media and Culture, World Politics, Russian Politics and Culture, Art and Politics, Propaganda and Hollywood, Post-Truth

--July 26, 2024: Keynote Address "Idealism of Art in Times of War and Peace" at Salzburg Festival, Austria

--August-October 2022: Co-curator with Barbara Paca, Frank Walter’s Chessboard, Xavier Hufkens Galleries, Brussels, Belgium

--May-November 2019: Co-curator with Barbara Paca, Find Yourself: Carnival and Resistance, Antigua & Barbuda National Pavillion, Venice Art Biennale 2019, Italy

--February 12-26, 2015: Co-curator of Romancing True Power: D20, exhibition at Parsons The New School for Design (66 Fifth Ave)

The D20 - modeled after the G20 group of most industrialized nations - is a selective list of leaders from present and recent past, across continents and political systems, who, in some way, represent many people's ideal of strong power - a true power. We call it Dick power. Romancing True Power investigates an idea of power: autocratic, authoritarian and dictatorial; a power present in dictatorships, but that can be found in democracies as well. The exhibition is an invitation to re-imagine true power by looking at dicktatorial constructs, their typology and trappings.  As each person’s Dick list is subjective, at the show we will invite you to PYOD (Pick Your Own Dick). Who is on your D20 list?

Awards And Honors

Great Immigrants: The Pride of America Award, Carnegie Corporation of New York, 2013

Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage for Outstanding Contributions to Political Science and International Relations of Eastern Europe, Philosophical Society of Trinity College Dublin, 2019

Portfolio

Personal Website

Amazon Author's Page

Romancing True Power: D20