Paul Adlerstein (was "Adler" until 2023) serves as Associate Professor of 20th Century US and World History at Colorado College. His research and political commitments focus on progressive/left internationalist organizing and politics. Specifically, Paul examines how movements build constituencies and exert power on behalf of political visions that extend across borders. He is also intrigued by examining "effectiveness" - what are the multitude of ways that movements are - and are not - "effective." In other words, Paul enjoys researching and teaching about the nitty gritty.

Researching movements means researching power as well. Thus, Paul's research also explores international political economy, the Cold War, U.S. foreign policy, worldwide progressive and revolutionary movements, and US politics.

Paul earned his PhD in History from Georgetown University in 2014. He has taught at Georgetown, at Harvard University in the History and Literature concentration, and at Colorado College (CC).

SOCIAL JUSTICE WORK

In addition to Paul's academic work, he has worked with activists and social movements for over twenty years. Paul believes that putting historical knowledge in conversation with present politics can enrich the work of building a better world. It can offer context for why institutions function as they do, how different ideas about strategy or politics have become normalized, and offer inspiration for future struggles.

As an undergrad, Paul organized around global justice issues and interned with Oxfam America. He also spent two summers working with grassroots justice groups in Guatemala. After undergraduate, Paul worked on the 2004 election, followed by two years at Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, mobilizing against neoliberal agreements like the Central America Free Trade Agreement. 

While working on his PhD, Paul dove into local justice organizing in Washington, D.C. primarily with Jews United for Justice. This included helping devise and implementing strategy for a successful push to expand the District's paid sick leave law. In Boston, Paul served on the board of the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Change.

In Colorado, Paul has continued to work with justice movements. He is the faculty adviser for multiple student groups and worked with students from CC’s Sunrise Movement chapter to help conceive and execute a successful campaign around the college’s investments in fossil fuels. 

Paul is currently working on multiple projects. Fusing his interests in academia and political work, Paul serves on the Advisory Board of the History and Political Economy Project. He also works with Justice Is Global, an organization dedicated to building robust internationalist politics across the US progressive movement.