Varieties of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social Solidarity

Kathleen Thelen is Ford Professor of Political Science at MIT. Her work focuses on the origins and evolution of political-economic institutions in the rich democracies. Her latest works are Varieties of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social Solidarity (Cambridge University Press 2014) and Advances in Comparative Historical Analysis (co-edited with James Mahoney, forthcoming 2015). Previous publications include Explaining Institutional Change (2010), Beyond Continuity (2005), and How Institutions Evolve (2004). Her awards include the Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award of the APSR (2005), the Mattei Dogan Award for Comparative Research (2006), and the Max Planck Research Award (2003). She was elected to the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences (2009), and received an honorary degree at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam (2013).

Thelen serves on the APSA Executive Council as Association Treasurer. She was President of APSA’s Comparative Politics Section (2011-13), Chair of the Council for European Studies (2002-2006), President of the APSA Section on Politics and History (2007-2008), as President of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (2008-2009). She is General Editor, along with Eric Wibbels, for the Cambridge University Press Series in Comparative Politics, and a permanent external member of the Max Planck Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung in Cologne, Germany.