Institute of Development Studies

Biography

Dr. Marc P. Berenson received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Princeton University in 2006. His work focuses on public policy in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, with particular attention to the comparative analysis of post-communist governing institutions. He has worked as a research analyst for several organizations, including the American Bar Association, the EastWest Institute, the Carter Center and the Strengthening Democratic Institutions Project at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. After receiving his BA from Harvard University, he founded and directed from 1996 to 1998 the "Law in Action" program for Freedom House in Kyiv, Ukraine. A recipient of over a dozen academic grants and fellowships, Marc is fluent in Russian and Polish and has a reading knowledge of Ukrainian.

Selected Projects and Recent Work

• Rising Powers in International Development
• Academic Partnership in Support of Teaching Development Aid Curriculum in Russia
• Re-creating the State: Governance, Civil Society and Trust in Poland, Russia and Ukraine

Thematic Expertise

Governance; State Capacity; Politics and Power; Taxation.

Geographic Expertise

Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States; Poland; Russian Federation; Ukraine.

Selected Publications »»

• Berenson, M. (2010) 'Less Fear, Little Trust: Deciphering the Whys of Ukrainian Tax Compliance' in D'Anieri, P. (eds), Orange Revolution and Aftermath: Mobilization, Apathy, and the State in Ukraine, Johns Hopkins University Press
• Berenson, M. (2010) 'Serving Citizens: How Comparable Are Polish and Russian "Street-Level" Bureaucrats?', Comparative Political Studies 43.5
• Berenson, M.P. (2008) 'Does Political Culture Matter? Deciphering the Whys of Ukrainian Tax Compliance', Max Weber Programme Working Paper , Florence:
• Berenson, M.P. (2008) 'Rationalizing or Empowering Bureaucrats? Tax Administration Reform in Post-Communist Poland and Russia', Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics 24.1:136-155
• Berenson, M.P. (2008) 'Ratsionalizatsiya ili ukreplenie vlasti chinovnikov? Reforma nalogovyx organov v Pol'she i v Rossii' in (eds), Administrativnye reformy v contexte vlastnykh otnoshenij: opyt postsocialisticheskih transformatsij v sravnitel'noj perspektive. pod redakciej, Moscow: ROSSPEN
• Berenson, M.P. (2008) 'Rationalizing or Empowering Bureaucrats? Tax Administration Reform in Post-Communist Poland and Russia' in Oleinik, A. (eds), Reforming the state without changing the model of power? On administrative reform in post-socialist countries, Oxford: Routledge
• Berenson, M.P. (1997) 'Introduction' in Shulha, M (eds), Problems of Migration and the Return of Deported Peoples to Ukraine, Kyiv: Freedom House, Russian and Ukrainian editions
• Berenson, M.P. (1997) 'American Constitutional and Legal Provisions Protecting Freedom of the Press' in Brown, C.J. and Schwartz, H. (eds), Judges and Journalists in the Transitional Democracies of Eastern Europe, Freedom House, Russian and Ukrainian editions
• Berenson, M.P. (1997) 'Introduction' in Betsa, O. (eds), In Search of Alternatives to Prison Sentencing, Kyiv: Freedom House, Russian and Ukrainian editions
• Berenson, M.P. (1996) 'The Update on Criminal Law Developments Reported from Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States', American Bar Association , Washington DC: American Bar Association