Mitchell A. Orenstein
 
 
Mitchell A. Orenstein is S. Richard Hirsch Associate Professor of European Studies at Johns Hopkins University, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC.  Professor Orenstein's work focuses on the international political economy of policy reform, exploring the ways that democratic polities seek to adapt and adjust to pressures of economic globalization and liberal economic reforms.  His research has concentrated on the global spread of pension privatization, Central and East European economic transitions, and strategies of democratization.     Orenstein’s first book, Out of the Red: Building Capitalism and Democracy in Postcommunist Europe (University of Michigan Press, 2001), won the 1997 Gabriel A. Almond Award of the American Political Science Association for the best dissertation in comparative politics.  This book compares strategies for economic reform adopted in the Czech Republic and Poland after 1989 and their political, economic, and distributional consequences.  It shows why democracies, under certain circumstances, can be more effective than dictatorships in economic policy making.     Privatizing Pensions: The Transnational Campaign for Social Security Reform (Princeton University Press, 2008) won the 2009 Charles H. Levine Prize of the International Political Science Association for a book that “makes a contribution of considerable theoretical or practical significance in the field of public policy and administration, takes an explicitly comparative perspective, and is written in an accessible style.”  Privatizing Pensions demonstrates the impact of a coalition of transnational actors led by the World Bank on pension privatization worldwide.  This study shows that transnational actors can exert a powerful influence on domestic policy reform in democratic states despite lacking direct veto power, by influencing the ideas and policy preferences of domestic veto players.   Pensions, Social Security, and the Privatization of Risk (Columbia University Press, 2009) examines pension reform options for the United States under the Obama administration, drawing lessons from international experience.  Professor Orenstein continues to study the effect of transnational actors on policy-making in democratic states and is starting a new project on the crisis of free market capitalism.     Professor Orenstein has also published two books on European social policy with the World Bank.  Roma in an Expanding Europe: Breaking the Poverty Cycle, co-authored with Dena Ringold and Erika Wilkens, is a seminal study of Roma poverty, sociology, and public health.  It won the Voter’s Choice Award for the most innovative analytical and advisory activity and the World Bank Europe/Central Asia Knowledge Fair in 2004.  Pension Reform in Europe: Process and Progress, co-edited with Robert Holzmann and Michal Rutkowski, analyzes the political economy of pension reform throughout the European Union.    Orenstein’s teaching encompasses the fields of comparative politics, European studies, and international political economy.  He teaches the SAIS core course Comparative National Systems under the leadership of Professor Frank Fukuyama, providing a general framework for comparative political analysis.  Professor Orenstein’s class on the Political Economy of Transition in Central and Eastern Europe includes an optional and space-limited trip to the region during January intersession to study selected policy issues in depth, supported by a grant from the European Union through the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins University.  He also teaches Free Market in Crisis, Varieties of Capitalism, and the European Union and the Global Economy (with Professor Dan Hamilton).     Prior to joining the faculty of Johns Hopkins University in 2007, Orenstein held appointments at Harvard, Yale, Brown, Syracuse, and Moscow State Universities.  His most recent position was Director of the Moynihan Center for European Studies at Syracuse University and Associate Professor of Political Science.  His research has been recognized with fellowships from the MacArthur Foundation, American Council of Learned Societies, and Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.  He has consulted for the World Bank, USAID, and other organizations.  Professor Orenstein has lived for several years in Europe, in Britain, France, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Russia.  His hobbies are travel, piano, and T-ball.  He is married with three children. Contact: Mitchell A. Orenstein S. Richard Hirsch Associate Professor of European Studies Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies 1619 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Room 523 Washington, DC 20036 USA Phone: 202-663-5798 Email: morenstein@jhu.edu JHU Faculty Directory Pagemailto:morenstein@jhu.eduhttp://www.sais-jhu.edu/faculty/directory/bios/o/orenstein.htmshapeimage_2_link_0shapeimage_2_link_1