Allison Stanger Awarded Berlin Prize

Allison Stanger, who holds the Middlebury Distinguished Endowed Professorship, has been named a Berlin Prize Fellow by the American Academy in Berlin for the 2026–27 academic year.

Awarded annually to U.S.-based scholars, writers, composers, and artists, the Berlin Prize provides leaders in the humanities, social sciences, public affairs, and the arts with the time and resources to advance scholarly and creative projects.

Stanger’s project, Democracy in the Age of Cryptocurrency: A Global Governance Challenge, examines how different forms of money, from ancient coins to cryptocurrencies, have shaped governments and societies over time. She is also exploring ways to involve citizens more directly in developing rules and oversight for digital currencies.

At the heart of Stanger’s project is a fundamental question: How can democratic societies govern a technology that operates beyond traditional national borders? She is exploring whether citizens’ assemblies—groups of ordinary people convened to address complex policy issues—could help shape rules for cryptocurrencies in ways that are transparent, accountable, and resistant to industry influence.

Stanger said her residency in Berlin will allow her to refine the model alongside European experts in democratic governance and technology policy, drawing lessons from Germany’s leadership in areas such as AI regulation and digital ethics.

“As we stand at a crossroads where cryptocurrency could either strengthen democratic governance through innovative participation mechanisms or undermine it through regulatory capture and authoritarian adoption, the stakes could not be higher,” wrote Stanger in her proposal. “The work I propose to undertake in Berlin will contribute to ensuring that these powerful technologies serve human flourishing rather than concentrated power, and that democratic societies maintain control over the digital infrastructure that increasingly shapes our collective future.”

Michelle McCauley, executive vice president and provost, has worked with Stanger on the potential impact of artificial intelligence on higher education and described her as an original thinker “operating at the center of the most consequential conversations of our time.” She also highlighted Stanger’s work advising policymakers, testimony before Congress, and collaborations with scholars at Harvard, Stanford, Bard, the Santa Fe Institute, and the Digital Humanism Initiative in Vienna.

“Allison is one of the most intellectually fearless scholars I have had the privilege of knowing in my 31 years at Middlebury, and her selection as a 2026–27 Berlin Prize Fellow is richly deserved,” said McCauley. “She brings both the political instincts of a scholar who has testified before Congress six times and briefed the White House and the European Commission as well as the moral clarity of someone who has spent her career asking hard questions about power, technology, and democracy. Her Berlin Prize fellowship project is rigorous, timely, and is vintage Allison.”

Berlin Prize fellows work throughout the semester with Berlin peers and institutions in the academy’s well-established network. During their stays, fellows engage German audiences through lectures, readings, and performances, which form the core of the American Academy’s public program.

Stanger will also examine the democratic challenges posed by cryptocurrency adoption, particularly under the current administration’s embrace of crypto as policy. She argues that current cryptocurrency implementation creates a “digital Wild West,” where sophisticated actors profit while ordinary investors bear the risks, threatening democratic accountability. Her Berlin project aligns with her forthcoming book, Who Elected Big Tech? (Yale University Press), and ongoing collaboration with leading technologists and policy experts, as well as with colleagues at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center.

“Allison is that exceptionally rare figure who fully masters a rapidly evolving technological landscape while bringing a political scientist’s historical, sociological, and political sensibility to bear on its implications,” said Danielle Allen, James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University, who nominated Stanger. “She has been an indispensable voice in democracy and technology research networks, shaping projects on everything from privacy and identity to prosocial media and the regulation of technology.”