The Elliott School of International Affairs is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2021 Michael E. Brown Research Prize, Hope Harrison, Professor of History and International Affairs. Named after the Elliott School’s former dean, the prize recognizes a faculty member each year whose research contributes to scholarly and policy-relevant understanding of important global issues.
Professor Harrison’s first book, Driving the Soviets Up the Wall: Soviet-East German Relations, 1953-1961 (Princeton University Press, 2003), was one of the first to utilize communist archives in both East Berlin and Moscow after the 1989-91 upheavals that put an end to a divided Germany. The book is widely considered the best account of the decision to build the Berlin Wall, and in the words of her colleagues, “While the book focuses on relations between the Soviet Union and East Germany, it has far broader implications that reflect her status as an eminent historian who also has political science training (exemplary of the Elliott School’s own interdisciplinary mission).” For her second book, After the Berlin Wall: Memory and the Making of New Germany, 1989 to the Present (Cambridge University Press, 2019), Professor Harrison wove a moving narrative to capture German memories of the wall through celebrations, commemorations, and controversies. The book epitomizes policy-relevant historical scholarship and offers new insights into how attitudes toward the wall and about national identity have changed across various segments of German society.
Furthermore, as a former Associate Dean for Research and Director of the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, Professor Harrison has been and continues to be a great champion for research and scholarship at the school. She also currently serves on the board of three institutions in Berlin connected to the Cold War and the Berlin Wall (the Allied Museum, the Berlin Wall Association, and BlackBox Cold War), and she is Co-chair of the Advisory Council of the Wilson Center’s History and Public Policy Program and a member of the Academic Council of the Victims of Communism Foundation.
The Elliott School and the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies are delighted to honor her work as a historian engaged with the most pressing issues of our time. Congratulations, Professor Harrison!