Mabel Berezin is Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences in Sociology, and the former Director of the Institute for European Studies (2021-2026). Her expertise lies in the area of extreme and exclusionary forms of nationalism, such as fascism and right-wing populist politics, and the threats that these phenomena pose to democratic political culture and governance. 

Her work explores how meaning systems shape and interact with political practices and institutions. Europe is her principal research area, but the comparison to United States is an increasing focus. Berezin’s cross-cutting and interdisciplinary research agenda allows her to cast a wide net over the interpretation of current and past political events.

She is the author of Making the Fascist Self: The Political Culture of Interwar Italy, awarded the J. David Greenstone Prize by the American Political Science Association, and Illiberal Politics in Neoliberal Times: Culture, Society and Populism in the New Europe and co-editor with Martin Schain of Europe without Borders: Remapping Territory, Citizenship, and Identity in a Transnational Age.

In addition to numerous articles, review essays, and contributions to edited volumes, she has edited collaborative volumes on democratic culture, emotions and the economy, qualitative methods and health and culture. Berezin engages with the media on current events and contributes commentary to general interest publications.