Our Faculty Chris Howell
A headshot of smiling Chris Howell who has short white hair, wearing a blue buttoned shirt with greenery in the background.
Chris Howell
Social Sciences (Politics)
Visiting J Y Pillay Professor
Associate Dean (Faculty Development)

Professor Chris Howell received his Bachelor of Arts in History from Cambridge University in 1983, where he attended Trinity College. He received a Master of Arts (1985), Master of Philosophy (1986) and Doctor of Philosophy (1989) in Political Science from Yale University.

Professor Howell has taught at Oberlin College since 1989, where he is now the James Monroe Professor of Politics. He is also Honorary Professor in Work and Organisational Studies at the University of Sydney Business School, and Associate Research Fellow, Center for European Studies and Comparative Politics, Sciences Po.

Comparative Political Economy of Capitalist Societies
Comparative Politics of Western Europe
Trade Unions and Industrial Relations
Social Democratic and Labour Parties

Research Specialisations
  • Political economy
  • Comparative politics
  • Western European politics
  • Industrial Relations
  • Labor politics

Books

Trajectories of Neoliberal Transformation: European Industrial Relations Since the 1970s [co-author Lucio Baccaro] (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017). Korean translation published by HanulMPlus Inc., 2020

Trade Unions and the State: Constructing Industrial Relations Institutions in Britain, 1890-2000 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005).

Regulating Labor: The State and Industrial Relations Reform in Postwar France (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992).

Recent Articles and Chapters

“Rethinking the Role of the State in Employment Relations for a Neoliberal Era” Industrial and Labor Relations Review. Appears in “A Special Issue on New Theories in Employment Relations”, 74:3 (May 2021), pp. 739-772.

“Neoliberalism, Capitalist Growth Models and the State: An Agenda for Industrial Relations Theory”. Journal of Industrial Relations 61:3 (August 2019), pp. 457-474.

The French Road to Neoliberalism”. Catalyst 2: 3 (Fall 2018), pp. 83-121.

“Régulation, représentation, crise : l’évolution de la conception du syndicalisme en France et en Grande-Bretagne,” in Gilles Christoph, Marc Lenormand and Sabine Remanofsky, eds., Antisyndicalisme : La vindicte des puissants (Paris: Editions du Croquant, 2019), pp. 131-152.

“Labouring Under the New Capitalism,” in Russell D. Lansbury, Anya Johnson, Di Van Den Broek, eds., Contemporary Issues in Work and Organisations (Melbourne: Routledge, 2019), pp. 239-253.

  • Comparative Social Inquiry
  • Political Economy of Capitalism
  • Contemporary Left Politics and Movements
  • Labour in Capitalist Societies
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