About

Zoltan Barany is the Frank C. Erwin, Jr. Centennial Professor at the University of Texas at Austin in the College of Liberal Arts. His academic affiliation is with the Department of Government, where he contributes to the university's liberal arts education. The page indicates his role as a distinguished faculty member, but does not provide specific details about his research focus, background, or key contributions.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Computer Security
• Political economy
• Sociology
• Law
• Economics
• Epistemology
• Philosophy
• Development economics

Selected publications

• Armies and Autocrats: Why Putin's Military Failed

  Journal of democracy · 2023 · 11 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  • Law

  This essay analyzes the failure of Vladimir Putin's military in Ukraine in terms of five key factors. The first of these is Putin's monopolization of control over the armed forces, which has driven critical voices and honest debates out of military and defense matters. Second is the failure of reform: Efforts to overhaul the bloated, ill-equipped post-Soviet military have not produced a twenty-first–century fighting force that can match the world's best armies or counter their capabilities. Third, Russia's military has been unable to attract talented young people. Fourth, Russia's mammoth defense industry produces too few weapons, and those it does turn out cannot match sophisticated Western arms. Finally, the operations in Georgia, Crimea, and Syria were conducted against feeble adversaries and said zero about how Russian forces would perform in a conventional land war against a resolute, well-armed enemy. In short, the Russian military is a reflection of the state that created it: Autocratic, security-obsessed, and teeming with hypercentralized decisionmaking, dysfunctional relations between civilian and military authorities, inefficiency, corruption, and brutality.

  DOI

• The Gulf Monarchies and Israel: From Aversion to Pragmatism

  The Middle East Journal · 2020 · 16 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Political Science
  • Political economy

  The relationship between most of the Gulf monarchies and Israel has improved in recent years. This article argues that four fundamental reasons account for the shift in Gulf leaders' attitudes: growing alignment of geopolitical interests against Iran, failings of American Middle East policy, recognition of the potential economic benefits of détente, and attitudinal shifts about the Palestinian cause. While this trend is present nearly throughout the Gulf, individual states' evolving nexuses to Israel underscore the divergences in their foreign policies.

  DOI

Frequent coauthors

• Robert G. Moser

  4 shared

• Jonathan Skinner

  3 shared

• Geoffrey Hosking

  3 shared

• Marco Martiniello

  University of Liège

  2 shared

• John Muncie

  2 shared

• Sarah Delamont

  Cardiff University

  2 shared

• Franke Wilmer

  Montana State University

  2 shared

• Donald Harman Akenson

  2 shared

Awards & honors

• Frank C. Erwin, Jr. Centennial Professor

Similar researchers at University of Texas at Austin

• Carlos Caldash-218
• Thomas J. Hughesh-154
• George Georgiouh-107
• Keith Johnstonh-106
• Jeffrey Andrewsh-104