Research Interests

Dr. Matthijs’ research specializes in the comparative political economy of economic ideas and institutions, focusing on advanced industrial countries. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on economic crises, ideas and economic policymaking in the United Kingdom post-1945, and is currently working on the revival of the Conservative Party in the UK, the rise and fall of neoliberal ideas in international political economy, and the impact of globalization on education systems and labor markets in western countries.

Selected Publications

• Ideas and Economic Crises from Attlee to Blair (1945-2005), Routledge, August  2010.
• "Brown and the New British Diplomacy,"; SAISPHERE (Johns Hopkins University, SAIS), December 2007.
• "U.S. and EU Trade Policy towards the Middle East: A Comparative Assessment," Conflict in Focus, Issue 20 (Amman, Jordan: Regional Centre on Conflict Prevention), August 2007.
• "Can Africa Leap into Global Network Trade?" (with Uma Subramanian), World Bank Policy Research Working Paper Series, No. WPS 4112, January 2007.
• Power and Preservation in the House of Saud, (with Gregg Johnson and Greg Lehman), The Bologna Center Journal for International Affairs, Spring 2002.

Work In Progress

• “The Politics of Transatlantic Economic Ideas: Is the Euro Undermining the Transatlantic Relationship?” (monograph)

Honors, Awards, and Fellowships

• Winner of the 2010 Samuel H. Beer Prize for Best Dissertation in British Politics by a North American Scholar (British Politics Group of the American Political Science Association, APSA)
• Fellowship, Belgian American Educational Foundation
• Fellowship, King Baudoin Foundation  

Professional Presentations

• “The Global Financial Crisis: Causes and Prospects for Financial Reform in the US and Europe,” presentation given for the annual University of Antwerp – Georgetown Exchange Program. SAIS – Johns Hopkins University, 20 July 2010.
• “Transatlantic Relations, the Obama Administration, and the Lisbon Treaty,” a faculty roundtable at the Johns Hopkins SAIS Bologna Center with Erik Jones, Dana Allin, John Harper and Michael Plummer (Bologna, Italy), 23 April 2010.
• “Macroeconomic Imbalances, Neoliberal Ideas, and the Global Financial Crisis: Lessons & Policy Implications,” public lecture given at the Johns Hopkins SAIS Bologna Center (Bologna, Italy), 15 October 2009.
• “The End of Neoliberalism? The Changing Relationship between State and Market,” participation confirmed in roundtable with Mark Blyth, Mitchell Orenstein, Kathleen McNamara, Rawi Abdelal and Sheri Berman, ISA Annual Meetings in New York City, 15-18 February 2009.
• “The Future of Transatlantic Relations after the U.S. Elections of 2008,” guest lecture at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, December 18, 2008.
• “The Welfare State: Past, Present and Future,” participated in five-day seminar organized by Tony Judt (Remarque Institute, New York University) in Kandersteg, Switzerland, November 5-9, 2008.
• “Brown’s Britain and the Global Financial Crisis,” participated on panel organized by the Washington European Society and the German Marshall Fund in Washington, October 30, 2008.
• “After Thatcherism: Crisis and Ideational Change in Britain’s Tory Party,” paper accepted and to presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Political Science Association (APSA) in Boston, August 28-31, 2008.
• “European Integration versus the Persistence of Elite Ideas in National Welfare Policies: A Comparison between Britain and France,” paper presented at the 4th Annual HEIRS Conference in Brussels (Belgium), April 11-12, 2008.
• “Britain under Brown,” participated on panel with Ed Luce (Financial Times) and Kendall Myers (State Department), part of the European Studies lecture series at SAIS (Washington, DC), 27 November 2007.