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Dr. Michael O. Slobodchikoff is a Political Scientist, associate professor and chair of the Political Science Department at Troy University's College of Arts and Sciences.

Background
Born in Arizona, Dr. Slobodchikoff's interest in Russia developed early which led to extensive travel in Russia and the Soviet States. His first trip to the Soviet Union was in 1990, where he witnessed first hand the devolution of the Soviet State, and made several trips to Russia in subsequent years. This allowed him to see how Russian foreign policy evolved in the post Soviet years, and this ignited a desire to systematically study the evolution of Russian foreign policy in the post Soviet period. Dr. Slobodchikoff is one of the foremost scholars on the international relations phenomenon known as treaty nesting or the cooperation that results from states being included in multilateral treaties.

Education
Dr. Slobodchikoff acquired a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Language from Georgetown University, where he majored in Russian and International Relations, an M.B.A. degree in International Management from Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management, and both M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Arizona.

Research
As a leading expert on Russia, Ukraine, the former Soviet states, international conflict and peace, and comparative politics, Dr. Slobodchikoff has dedicated recent years to examining the crisis which has developed between the West and Russia; specifically Ukraine and to the concept known as treaty nesting. The result has been the publication of three books and many peer-reviewed journal articles articles.

On of Dr. Slobodchikoff's major contributions to International Relations was the 2013 book entitled Strategic Cooperation: Overcoming the Barriers of Global Anarchy, which argues that although states benefit from cooperation, they are also wary of the power relations between countries, making cooperation difficult. Successful and cooperative bilateral relationships are formed between strong and weak states that are power asymmetric and have mistrust of one another, but they are built in such as way as to overcome the problem of power asymmetry and mistrust. The book contributes greatly to International Relations theory by answering how and why states that are in power asymmetry, and have mistrust of one another, are able to build a cooperative bilateral relationship. Dr. Slobodchikoff's research indicates that states forge a relationship due to strategic needs such as economic or security needs. Dr. Slobodchikoff developed a database composed of the whole population of bilateral treaties between Russia and each of the former Soviet republics, and examines all of these bilateral relationships. He finds that Russia indeed forged relationships with the former republics based on its strategic interests. However, despite Russia's strategic interests, it had to build a bilateral relationship that would address the issues of mistrust and power asymmetry between the states. To achieve this, Russia and the former Soviet republics created treaty networks, which served to legitimize as well as legalize the independent status of each of the former republics while also increasing the cost to Russia of violating any of the treaties. Dr. Slobodchikoff's research indicates that strong treaty networks account for a more cooperative relationship between states, allowing both states to cooperate by alleviating the problems of mistrust and power asymmetry.

His next endeavor, entitled Building Hegemonic Order Russia's Way: Rules, Stability and Predictability in the Post-Soviet Space, was published in 2014 and sought to examine Russia’s emergence after the collapse of the Soviet Union and its creation of a security architecture in the post-Soviet space. Many scholars argue that Russia is a coercive power in the region that forces states to act in only its own interests. While acknowledging Russia’s power this Dr. Slobodchikoff argues that it is not able to merely force states to behave as it wants them to. Instead, Russia must use bilateral and multilateral cooperation to develop a security architecture that provides order, stability and predictable behavior for both Russia as the hegemony and the weaker powers in the region. By building this security architecture, Russia and the other states in the post-Soviet space are better able to achieve their strategic goals and provide for their own security. To achieve this, weaker states are able to press for certain concessions from Russia regarding how to structure bilateral relations as well as multilateral organizations. While Western politicians such as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko have argued that Russia has tried to reestablish the Soviet Union through coercive means, the reality is much more of a nuanced interaction among all of the states in the region, which ensures state sovereignty while allowing the weaker states to pursue their own interests. Using network analysis, Dr. Slobodchikoff attempts to show how the regional structural architecture of cooperation was built and indicate how Russia is able to achieve order. This book also argues that there is a lack of order where states have refused to cooperate in building the structural architecture, which has led to conflict and territorial disputes.

Dr. Slobodchikoff's latest research Cultural Imperialism and the Decline of the Liberal Order: Russian and Western Soft Power in Eastern Europe and is coauthored with Political Scientist Dr. G. Doug Davis. The authors argue that the end of the Cold War heralded in a new era for liberalism. Eastern European states adopted democracy and capitalism to gain acceptance by the West. Yet, a mere two decades later, liberalism is in crisis. The rise of illiberal democracies and nationalist movements in the second decade of the twenty-first century have left scholars baffled. Dr's. Davis and Slobodchikoff argue that the decline of the liberal order lies within its own ideology: as it champions freedom, liberalism requires its adherents to give up their cultural traditions and adopt the global ethos to be legitimate. Through a systematic analysis of Western and Russian soft power in Poland and Serbia, the authors explain the decline of liberalism and the battle over the balance of power in Eastern Europe.

Contributions to International Relations and Treaty Nesting
Slobodchikoff has published numerous papers on Russia, Eurasia, and East-West relations. However, Slobodchikoff is best know for his work on the International Relations phenomenon known as treaty nesting. In the 2012 article coauthoried with Gary Goertz and John P Willerton entitled Treaty networks, nesting, and interstate cooperation: Russia, the FSU, and the CIS,the authors show that the creation of treaty networks build upon, expand upon or are grounded in preexisting treaties, are an increasingly important dimension of interstate cooperation. Focusing on relations within the area of the former Soviet Union (FSU), with special attention to both multilateral and bilateral arrangements between Russia and other FSU states, the authors illuminate treaty activism and regional cooperation among Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) members in the security domain. Beyond an analysis of multilateral and bilateral CIS alliance agreements, the authors evaluate more focused security arrangements of two FSU–CIS bilateral relationships: Russia–Turkmenistan and Russia–Georgia. Two complex and problematic bilateral relationships are analyzed, where treaty activism and networks permitted the signatory states to address common security issues. The paper argued that the breakdown of the Russian–Georgian relationship in August 2008 war should not obscure the significant conflict management efforts of the preceding decade and a half; efforts that were grounded in intensive treaty activity. Joined together, these CIS multilateral and focused bilateral relationships point to a treaty complex and architecture that partially manage the contrasting security interests of FSU states.

Media
Dr. Slobodchikoff is a regular contributor to Russia Direct, the Russian International Affairs Council and has often provided analysis on Russian relations with Ukraine for BBC World News. He has served as an analyst on Russian relations with the United States for Voice of Russia Radio and previously served as an instructor at the University of Arizona and director of international student advising at Southeastern University in Washington, D.C. During the 2014 Ukraine crisis, Slobodchikoff was a go to person for several news agencies including the BBC, providing up to date analysis as the situation developed. Likewise when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) was shot down over Ukraine in 2014, Dr. Slobodchikoff provided expert analysis on what could be expected from the outcome of the tragedy.