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Marius Ostrowski

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Marius Sebastian Ostrowski
FRHistS, FRSA
Marius Ostrowski delivering a lecture at the Nicolaus Copernicus Academy conference 2024
Born12 December 1988
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
NationalityGerman, British
Occupation(s)Academic and policy researcher
Academic background
EducationNower Lodge School
Colet Court
Eton College
Alma materUniversity of Oxford
(B.A., M.Phil., D.Phil.)
ThesisTwilight of the pollsters: A social theory of mass opinion in late modernity (2017)
Doctoral advisorMichael Freeden
Other advisorsCécile Fabre · Jeremy Waldron
InfluencesLouis Althusser · Eduard Bernstein · Pierre Bourdieu · Judith Butler · Nancy Fraser · Michael Freeden · Martin Heidegger · Niklas Luhmann · Nicos Poulantzas · Arthur Schopenhauer · Ann Thomson · Ferdinand Tönnies · Ellen Meiksins Wood
Academic work
DisciplineHistory · politics · sociology
Sub-disciplineHistory of ideas · ideology studies · social theory
InstitutionsMagdalen College, Oxford
All Souls College, Oxford
European University Institute
University of Nottingham
Blavatnik School of Government

Marius Sebastian Ostrowski FRHistS FRSA (German: [ˈmaːʁɪʊs zɛˈbastɪan ɔsˈtʁɔvskiː]; born 12 December 1988) is a German-British political and social theorist, historian of ideas, policy researcher, and composer, based at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. His research interests lie in the study of ideology and ideologies, focusing especially on how social contexts shape patterns of ordinary thinking and everyday behaviour. He also writes on the theory and history of social democracy, in particular its origins in interwar socialist reformist thought, and on progressive visions of European integration, including the prospects for a Europe-wide Universal Basic Income.

Early life

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Ostrowski was born in Frankfurt am Main, West Germany,[1] to parents from Sighișoara and Poznań. His mother was the Romanian-German-British actress Doris Hermann-Ostrowski, née Rodica-Doris Bogdan (1952–2023), who later became a lecturer and tutor in German language studies at the Goethe Institut, London School of Economics, and University of Oxford.[2] After living in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Kaiserslautern, Ostrowski immigrated to the United Kingdom with his mother in 1994, settling in Surrey. He first attended Nower Lodge School, Dorking (now defunct), then moved in 1997 to Colet Court (now St Paul’s Junior School). In 2002, Ostrowski became a King’s Scholar and Music Scholar at Eton College, where he achieved 10 A-levels, including Classical Greek, history, linguistics, mathematics, and music.[3][4]

From 2007 to 2010, Ostrowski studied philosophy, politics, and economics at the University of Oxford, winning a Demy-fellowship and music scholarship at Magdalen College, and graduating with a First. He continued his studies with an M.Phil in political theory (2010–12), studying with Michael Freeden, Lois McNay, David Miller, Mark Philp, and Adam Swift, and a D.Phil. in politics (2012–17), under the supervision of Michael Freeden. His thesis Twilight of the pollsters: A social theory of mass opinion in late modernity offered a framework to understand the crisis of opinion polling industry, bringing into conversation literature from the history of ideas, opinion research, political science, social psychology, and sociological theory. In 2013, Ostrowski won election to an Examination Fellowship in politics at All Souls College in 2013,[5] where he was mentored by Jeremy Waldron and Cécile Fabre.[6]

Career

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On completing his D.Phil., Ostrowski undertook a systematic reorientation towards the history of ideas and the study of ideologies. In 2018, he embarked on a multi-volume translation of the collected works of Eduard Bernstein, three volumes of which have been released so far: Eduard Bernstein on Social Democracy and International Politics (2018),[7] Eduard Bernstein on the German Revolution (2019),[8] and Eduard Bernstein on Socialism Past and Present (2021).[9] Ostrowski also published his first monograph, Left Unity (2020),[10] in which he makes the case for closer collaboration between the various groups and movements that comprise the progressive forces in society.[11][12][13] During this time, he taught as a lecturer and tutor in politics at Christ Church and Magdalen College, Oxford, and the New College of the Humanities (now Northeastern University London).[14]

In 2019, a Visiting Fellowship at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence introduced Ostrowski to the neglected Europeanist ideas of interwar progressive thinkers such as Max Cohen-Reuß and Alexandre Marc.[15] As a result, in 2020 he moved to the EUI as a Max Weber Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies to pursue a project on the ideological history of Europeanism in the 20th century.[16][17] He joined the Young Academics Network of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies, embarking on a multi-year project investigating the prospects for a European Universal Basic Income,[18][19][20] which culminated in the book A Radical Bargain for Europe (2024).[21] He also worked with the Progressive Alliance to draft an action plan for how international institutions can resist democratic backsliding, informed by ‘best practice’ among global stakeholders.[22] During his time at the EUI, Ostrowski brought out his second monograph Ideology (2022), in which he develops the first statement of his distinctive approach to ideology theory, building on the morphological approach pioneered by Michael Freeden.[23]

Alongside his academic work, Ostrowski has been an active contributor to policy debates at the UK, European, and global level. In 2012–13, he acted as Head of Research for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Taxation in the UK Parliament, evaluating the opportunities for fiscal divergence in an independent Scotland.[24] Ostrowski took up an offer to join the thinktank ResPublica in 2022 to develop a new strand of research on lifelong learning, integrated tertiary education, and the political economy of skills.[25] In 2023, he oversaw the conversion of this work into a new education policy thinktank, the Lifelong Education Institute (LEI),[26] and was appointed its founding director, with Ann Limb as the LEI’s inaugural Chair. At the same time, Ostrowski joined the editorial team of the Journal of Political Ideologies, succeeding Michael Freeden and Mathew Humphrey as Editor-in-Chief, and taking up a position as Honorary Assistant Professor at the Centre for Research into Ideas and the Study of Political Ideologies, University of Nottingham.[27] In 2024, Ostrowski left his role at the Lifelong Education Institute and returned to Oxford as an ESRC Policy Fellow and Researcher at the Blavatnik School of Government.[28]

Music

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Ostrowski began to learn piano at the age of 3, followed soon after by the clarinet, organ, and music composition, studying with Ruth Nye, Stephen Goss, and James Weeks. Throughout his school years, he participated in Jugend musiziert and Jeunesses Musicales performance and composition competitions in Dublin, London, Nuremberg, Stockholm, and Weikersheim.

He remains an active pianist and composer,[29] writing above all for keyboard, influenced by late 19th- and early 20th-century Classical composers such as Béla Bartók, Lili Boulanger, Paul Hindemith, Elizabeth Maconchy, Max Reger, Dmitri Shostakovich, Richard Strauss, Germaine Tailleferre, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he performed and recorded the entirety of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations, published on his YouTube channel The Piano Diaries.

Selected compositions

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Honours

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In 2021, Ostrowski was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, United Kingdom.[30] In 2023, he was appointed as one of the inaugural members of the Chamber of Legal Studies of the Nicolaus Copernicus Academy, Poland.[31]

Selected works

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Monographs

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Translations

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Articles

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Reports

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References

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  1. ^ "Marius Ostrowski". georginacapel.com. Retrieved 2024-10-05.
  2. ^ "In memory of Doris Hermann-Ostrowski". London School of Economics. 13 September 2023. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  3. ^ Griffiths, Sian (2007-08-19). "Ten As at A level? That will be a pass, then". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 2024-10-04.
  4. ^ Editor, Alexandra Frean, Education (2007-08-25). "Eton goes back to the top of the class with record A level results". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 2024-10-05. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ "Examination Fellowship Election | All Souls College". www.asc.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  6. ^ "Dr Marius Ostrowski | All Souls College". www.asc.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-10-04.
  7. ^ a b Ostrowski, Marius S. (2018). Eduard Bernstein on Social Democracy and International Politics. Cham: Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-70781-5. ISBN 978-3-319-70780-8.
  8. ^ a b Ostrowski, Marius S. (2020). Eduard Bernstein on the German Revolution: Selected Historical Writings. Cham: Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-27719-2. ISBN 978-3-030-27718-5.
  9. ^ a b Ostrowski, Marius S. (2021). Eduard Bernstein on Socialism Past and Present: Essays and Lectures on Ideology. Cham: Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-50484-7. ISBN 978-3-030-50483-0.
  10. ^ a b Ostrowski, Marius S. (2020). Left unity: manifesto for a progressive alliance. Lanham: Policy Network / Rowman & Littlefield International. ISBN 978-1-78661-295-3.
  11. ^ Ostrowski, Marius (2021-02-16). "Left Unity". Progressive Britain. Retrieved 2024-10-05.
  12. ^ admin (2020-03-05). "What are the values of the left?". Justice Everywhere. Retrieved 2024-10-05.
  13. ^ Niker, Fay (2020-04-23). "Left Unity: An Interview with Marius Ostrowski". Justice Everywhere. Retrieved 2024-10-05.
  14. ^ "About". Marius S. Ostrowski. Retrieved 2024-10-04.
  15. ^ a b Ostrowski, Marius S. (2019-01-01). "Social democracy and the 'Europe question': Lessons from Weimar?". Renewal.
  16. ^ "Ostrowski, Marius". www.eui.eu. Retrieved 2024-10-04.
  17. ^ a b Ostrowski, Marius S. (May 2023). "Europeanism: A Historical View". Contemporary European History. 32 (2): 287–304. doi:10.1017/S0960777321000485. hdl:1814/74029. ISSN 0960-7773.
  18. ^ a b Afscharian, Dominic; Muliavka, Viktoriia; Ostrowski, Marius S.; Siegel, Lukáš (2022-09-22). "The State of the UBI Debate: Mapping the Arguments for and against UBI". Basic Income Studies. 17 (2): 213–237. doi:10.1515/bis-2021-0030. ISSN 1932-0183.
  19. ^ a b Afscharian, Dominic; Muliavka, Viktoriia; Ostrowski, Marius S.; Siegel, Lukáš (September 2022). "Into the unknown: Empirical UBI trials as social Europe's risk insurance". European Journal of Social Security. 24 (3): 257–275. doi:10.1177/13882627221118103. ISSN 1388-2627.
  20. ^ a b "The European Basic Income – Delivering on Social Europe". Foundation for European Progressive Studies. Retrieved 2024-10-05.
  21. ^ a b Afscharian, Dominic; Muliavka, Viktoriia; Ostrowski, Marius S.; Siegel, Lukáš (2024). A radical bargain for Europe: progressive visions of a European basic income. Lanham Boulder New York London: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-6792-2.
  22. ^ a b "Building resilient democracies". Foundation for European Progressive Studies. Retrieved 2024-10-05.
  23. ^ a b Ostrowski, Marius S. J. (2022). Ideology. Key concepts series. Cambridge, UK: Polity. ISBN 978-1-5095-4072-3. OCLC 1263663019.
  24. ^ a b Ostrowski, Marius S.; Liddell-grainger, Ian (2013-11-26). "Achieving Autonomy: What the independence referendum means for Scotland's fiscal future". 'Scotland's fiscal future' series: First Report.
  25. ^ "Dr Marius Ostrowski - ResPublica". ResPublica - society · prosperity · virtue. 2022-02-11. Retrieved 2024-10-04.
  26. ^ respublicauk (2023-03-03). "Lifelong Education Institute". LEI. Retrieved 2024-10-05.
  27. ^ "Centre Members - The University of Nottingham". www.nottingham.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-10-04.
  28. ^ "Marius S Ostrowski | Blavatnik School of Government". www.bsg.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-10-14.
  29. ^ "Music". Marius S. Ostrowski. Retrieved 2024-10-04.
  30. ^ "Alexander Lee and Marius Ostrowski made Fellows of the Royal Historical Society". georginacapel.com. Retrieved 2024-10-04.
  31. ^ "Chambers of the Academy". Akademia Kopernikańska. Retrieved 2024-10-04.
  32. ^ Ostrowski, Marius S. (January 2021). "How (Not) to Form a Progressive Alliance: Lessons from the History of Left Cooperation". The Political Quarterly. 92 (1): 23–31. doi:10.1111/1467-923X.12939. ISSN 0032-3179.
  33. ^ Ostrowski, M.S. (2021-01-01). "SOCIAL DEMOCRACY AND 'POSITIVE' FOREIGN POLICY: THE EVOLUTION OF EDUARD BERNSTEIN'S INTERNATIONAL THOUGHT, 1914-1920". History of Political Thought. 42 (3): 520–564.
  34. ^ Ostrowski, Marius S. (2022-01-02). "Ideology studies and comparative political thought". Journal of Political Ideologies. 27 (1): 1–10. doi:10.1080/13569317.2021.2020994. ISSN 1356-9317.
  35. ^ Ostrowski, Marius S (2022-05-12). "'Reform or revolution', redux : Eduard Bernstein on the 1918–19 German Revolution". Historical Research. 95 (268): 213–239. doi:10.1093/hisres/htab043. ISSN 0950-3471.
  36. ^ Ostrowski, Marius S. (2022-08-08). "From 'Noble Patriotism' to The 'Republic of Peoples': Eduard Bernstein and the 'National Question' In Social Democracy". History of Political Thought. 43 (3): 517–554.
  37. ^ Ostrowski, Marius S. (2023-01-02). "The ideological morphology of left–centre–right". Journal of Political Ideologies. 28 (1): 1–15. doi:10.1080/13569317.2022.2163770. ISSN 1356-9317.
  38. ^ Ostrowski, Marius S. (2024-01-02). "Editorial: ideology and the individual". Journal of Political Ideologies. 29 (1): 1–25. doi:10.1080/13569317.2024.2300213. ISSN 1356-9317.
  39. ^ "Behavioural Standards and Learning Outcomes in the English Comprehensive School System - ResPublica". ResPublica - society · prosperity · virtue. 2023-07-18. Retrieved 2024-10-04.
  40. ^ "Behaving to Learn: Best practice lessons for the behavioural turn in English schools policy - ResPublica". ResPublica - society · prosperity · virtue. 2023-07-18. Retrieved 2024-10-04.
  41. ^ "Hungry to Learn: Lifelong Learning Pathways for the Agri-food Sector". LEI. Retrieved 2024-10-04.
  42. ^ "Productivity Report champions skills as key to unlock UK growth - News". City & Guilds. Retrieved 2024-10-04.
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