Kathleen Thelen
Kathleen Thelen is the Ford Professor of Political Science at MIT, a Permanent External Member of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, and a Faculty Associate at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University. Her scholarship examines the origins and evolution of political-economic institutions in advanced democracies, with a particular focus on Western Europe and the United States. Her current research explores the political economy of new technologies and places the American political economy in comparative perspective. Thelen is widely recognized as a leading voice in the study of institutions and institutional change, and her contributions have earned her numerous honors and leadership positions in the field of political science.
Kathleen Thelen Professional Experience / Academic History
Professional Experience
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Ford Professor of Political Science
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Payson S. Wild Professor of Political Science
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Assistant Professor of Politics
Academic History
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Ph.D., Political Science
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M.A., Political Science
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B.A., Political Science
CURRENT AFFILIATIONS
Editorial Board, American Political Science Review
Editorial Board, World Politics
Editorial Board, Comparative Politics
Editorial Board, German Politics and Society
Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Co-Chair, Center for European Studies, Harvard University
EARLY APPOINTMENTS
Thelen has served as President of the American Political Science Association (APSA), Chair of the Council for European Studies and as President of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics.
She served as General Editor of the Cambridge University Press Series in Comparative Politics.
RECOGNITIONS
2020 Friedrich Schiedel-Award for Politics & Technology
2019 Aaron Wildavsky Enduring Contribution Prize
2019 Michael Endres Research Prize
2015 Barrington Moore Book Prize
2015 Elected Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
2009 Elected Member, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences
2006 Mattei Dogan Award for Comparative Research
2005 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award
2003 Max Planck Research Award
Honorary Degree, Free University of Amsterdam
Honorary Degree, London School of Economics
Honorary Degree, European University Institute in Florence
Honorary Degree, University of Copenhagen
PUBLICATIONS
Attention, Shoppers!: American Retail Capitalism and the Origins of the Amazon Economy
American Political Economy: Politics, Markets, and Power
Advances in Comparative Historical Analysis
Varieties of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social Solidarity
Explaining Institutional Change; Ambiguity, Agency and Power
Beyond Continuity: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies
How Institutions Evolve: The Political Economy Skills in Germany, Britain, the United States and Japan
Structuring Politics: Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Analysis
Union Parts: Labor Politics in Postwar Germany