Chris Howell

  • James Monroe Emeritus Professor of Politics

Areas of Study

Education

  • PhD, Political Science, Yale University, 1989
  • MPhil, Political Science, Yale University, 1986
  • MA, International Relations, Yale University, 1985
  • BA (Honors), History, Trinity College, Cambridge University, 1983

Biography

Chris Howell is a political scientist with research interests in the comparative political economy of advanced capitalist societies. In retirement from Oberlin College, he continues this research and is currently working on projects related to industrial relations reform in the Nordic countries and Australia.

At Oberlin, Chris taught courses on Comparative Political Economy, the Welfare State, Comparative Politics, Trade Unions and Industrial Relations, Socialism, and Left Parties and movements.

Visiting Professor, MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, Yale University, 2025–26

Visiting J Y Pillay Professor of the Social Sciences, Yale-NUS College, 2021–25

Associate Dean (Faculty Development), Yale-NUS College, 2022–25

James Monroe Professor of Politics, Oberlin College, 2017–24

Honorary Professor in Work & Organisational Studies, University of Sydney Business School, 2017–27

Nordic Neoliberalisms: Perspectives on Economic, Social and Cultural Change in the Nordics after 1970 [co-editor Jenny Andersson]. Edited volume in the Nordic Studies in a Global Context series (London, UK: Routledge, 2025.

“What Would The Neoliberalization of Nordic Industrial Relations Look Like?” Economic and Industrial Democracy, OnlineFirst 8-29-2026. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143831X261480335

“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.

News

Labor of Love

Once a politics and history major, John Kallas ’14 goes from studying contemporary American union strategy to practicing it on the streets of Cleveland.