Professional Affiliation

Professor and Chair, Department of Politics, Oberlin College

Expert Bio

Stephen Crowley is a scholar of the politics of Russia and Eastern Europe, with a focus on labor and the political economy of postcommunist transformations. His recent book, Putin's Labor Dilemma: Russian Politics between Stability and Stagnation, (Cornell University Press) examines the specter of looming labor and social unrest as Russia’s leaders contemplate how to rejuvenate the country’s struggling economy. It explores Putin’s populist rhetoric and symbolism, the challenges posed by Russia’s “monotowns” and other hard-hit industrial centers, and the potential for protest stemming from either declining living standards or painful structural reforms.

Other books include Working Through the Past: Labor and Authoritarian Legacies in Comparative Perspective (co-edited with Teri Caraway and Maria Lorena Cook); Workers after Workers’ States: Labor and Politics in Postcommunist Eastern Europe (co-edited with David Ost); and Hot Coal, Cold Steel: Russian and Ukrainian Workers From the End of the Soviet Union to the Post-Communist Transformations. Articles have appeared in journals such as World Politics, Slavic Review, Demokratizatsiya, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Politics & Society, Post-Soviet Affairs, East European Politics & Societies, Problems of Post-Communism, and Slavic Review. Popular writings have appeared in Foreign Affairs, Newsweek, the Guardian, The Nation, and the Washington Post.

Wilson Center Project

“The Other Russia: Labor Politics and the Putin Regime in Challenging Economic Times.”

Project Summary

What impact might labor protest have on Putin’s political legitimacy? While Putin weathered a wave of protests in 2011-12 from middle-class demonstrators in Moscow and St. Petersburg, it remains to be seen whether he can survive working class strikes based in Russia’s industrial heartland.  With Russia’s now-troubled economy, labor protests are on the rise, and even if they don’t pose a direct threat to Putin’s regime, the cost of dampening them -- by propping up Russia’s many unprofitable industrial enterprises -- poses a considerable challenge to Russia’s economic and political stability.

Major Publications

Working Through the Past: Labor and Authoritarian Legacies in Comparative Perspective, co-edited with Teri Caraway and Maria Lorena Cook (Cornell University Press, 2015).

Workers after Workers’ States: Labor and Politics in Postcommunist Eastern Europe, co-edited with David Ost (Rowman & Littlefield, 2001).

Hot Coal, Cold Steel: Russian and Ukrainian Workers From the End of the Soviet Union to the Post-Communist Transformations (University of Michigan Press, 1997). [Runner-up for the AAASS Marshall Shulman Prize, 1998]

Previous Terms

Short-Term Scholar, Kennan Institute. "Labor Relations and Monogoroda in Putin's Russia." May 19, 2014 - Jul 19, 2014.

Title VIII-Supported Short-Term Grant, Kennan Institute. “Labor Protest in the Putin Era.” August 01, 2009 - September 01, 2009.

East European Studies Scholar. “East European Labor, Varieties of Capitalism, and the Expansion of the EU.” May 01, 2006 - August 01, 2006.

European Studies Title VIII-Supported Short-Term Scholar. "Labor Conflict and Relative Prosperity in Putin's Russia." August 2004.

Title VIII-Supported Short-Term Grant, Kennan Institute. “Labor in the Former Soviet Union.” August 2000.

Research Grant, Kennan Institute. “Workers’ Responses to the Political and Economic Transformations in Post-Communist Russia.” June 01, 1997 – August 01, 1997.

Title VIII-Supported Short-Term Grant, Kennan Institute. “Labor Politics in Contemporary Russia and Ukraine.” August 01, 1993 - September 01, 1993.