Mark Blyth


Mark McGann Blyth is a Scottish-American political scientist and a professor of international political economy at Brown University.

Early life

Blyth grew up in Dundee, Scotland and was raised by his grandmother after his mother died shortly after child birth. He played bass in rock bands and noted in an interview that "I was a musician from age 14 to 28. I've released five or six albums, but all with independent labels that never went anywhere. If they had, I wouldn't be here. I'd be lying on a beach with Heidi Klum."
In 1991, Blyth received a Walker Bequest award from the University of Strathclyde and a Scottish International Educational Trust Award for Study in the United States. He eventually became a US citizen.

Education and career

Blyth received a BA in Political Science from University of Strathclyde in 1990. He went on to receive a MA in Political Science in 1993, an MPhil of Political Science in 1995 and a PhD in Political Science in 1999 from Columbia University.
In 1997, Blyth joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins University as an assistant professor of political science. Between 2005 and 2009, he was an associate professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University.
In 2009, Blyth became a professor of international political economy at Brown University's department of political science. Since 2014, he has been the Eastman Professor of Political Economy as part of a joint appointment at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies and the Department of Political Science.
Blyth is currently the William R. Rhodes '57 Professor of International Economics and Director of the Rhodes Center for International Economics and Finance at Brown University.
He is best known for his critique of austerity, , described by Salon and AlterNet as "necessary reading" and as simultaneously functioning as an economics explainer, a polemic, and a history book offering "insight into austerity’s lineage, its theories, its champions and its failures." Blyth characterized the argument advanced by austerity advocates as "a canard" and "complete horseshit."
Using the term "Trumpism", Blyth argues that there are similar anti-establishment movements across the developed world.

Publications

Books

Selected articles

A much more complete list can be found on .
YearNameJournal
2013Austerity as ideology: A reply to my criticsComparative European Politics, Volume 11 - Issue 6
2016Ideas and Historical Institutionalism The Oxford Handbook of Historical Institutionalism Edited by Orfeo Fioretos, Tulia G. Falleti, and Adam Sheingate
2016Policies to overcome stagnation: the crisis, and the possible futures, of all things euroEuropean Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Volume 13 - Issue 2
2017Black Swans, Lame Ducks, and the mystery of IPE's missing macroeconomy Review of International Political Economy, Volume 24 - Issue 2

Selected public interventions