Mark Vail
Worrell Professor
B.A. 1993, The University of Texas at Austin – Plan II Honors
M.A.L.D. 1996, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
M.A. 1998, University of California, Berkeley
Ph.D. 2005, University of California, Berkeley
Areas of Expertise: Comparative Political Economy of advanced industrial countries with a particular emphasis on social and economic policy; Industrial Relations; Political Institutions and the role of political ideas and ideologies in Western Europe
Mark I. Vail is Worrell Chair of Politics and International Affairs at Wake Forest University. His research focuses on the comparative political economy of advanced industrial countries, with a particular emphasis on social and economic policy, industrial relations, political institutions, and the role of political ideas and ideologies in Western Europe. Until 2020, he was Professor of Political Science and a Fellow at the Murphy Institute of Political Economy at Tulane University. He has served on the editorial boards of several prominent journals, is currently editor of the series “Understanding Europe” published by Agenda Publishing, and, since 2019, serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Council of European Studies. He has held visiting appointments at Stanford University, Harvard University, the Max Planck/Sciences Po Center on Coping with Instability in Market Societies in Paris, and the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne. He has published two books: Liberalism in Illiberal States: Ideas and Economic Adjustment in Contemporary Europe (Oxford University Press, 2018), and Recasting Welfare Capitalism: Economic Adjustment in Contemporary France and Germany (Temple University Press, 2010). He has also published chapters in numerous volumes of edited scholarship and articles in many prominent journals, including the European Journal of Political Research, Governance, Comparative Politics, the Journal of Common Market Studies, and West European Politics.
POL 230. Political and Economic Development of Western Europe
Analyzes the historical antecedents of Western European regime outcomes in the interwar period in order to explain the survival or collapse of democracy in the 1920s and 1930s in Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy. Explores contrasting responses to economic, social, and political challenges since the middle ages, including the commercialization of agriculture, national unification, revolution, and the timing and strength of industrialization.
POL 237 The Comparative Politics of Welfare States
Examines the various ways in which the U.S. and other advanced industrial societies respond to a number of shared “welfare issues,” and craft public policy in areas such as pensions, health care, anti-poverty programs, family stability, and immigration.
POL 238 Comparative Economic Development and Political Change
Overview of the relationship between economic development, socio-structural change, and politics since the creation of the international capitalist system in the 16th century. Organized around case studies of industrialized democracies, evolving Communist systems and command economies, and “Third World” countries.