Allison Stanger

Class of Fall 2026

Middlebury Distinguished Endowed Professor

Middlebury College

Democracy in the Age of Cryptocurrency: A Global Governance Challenge

At the Academy, Stanger is developing a book project that examines the democratic risks associated with cryptocurrency adoption, especially under the Trump administration. It argues that current crypto systems operate as a “digital wild west,” where sophisticated actors capture disproportionate gains while ordinary investors face significant risks, undermining democratic accountability. Building on her forthcoming book, “Who Elected Big Tech?”, and ongoing interdisciplinary collaborations with leading academic and policy institutions, Stanger’s project contends that cryptocurrency’s shift toward algorithmic governance weakens democratic oversight, particularly when system failures result in losses borne by less sophisticated participants. To address this, Stanger proposes global citizens’ assemblies, inspired by models in Ireland and France, as mechanisms for legitimate cross-border governance. The project will culminate in a new book, “Fiat: A Brief History of Democracy and Money from Coins to Crypto,” along with policy proposals and academic publications on democratic cryptocurrency governance. The project aims to inform US legislative efforts, strengthen European regulatory frameworks such as MiCA, and support international cooperation that balances national sovereignty with the challenges of global technological governance. In Berlin, Stanger will benefit from strong international policy networks and vibrant academic community, including at institutions such as the Max Planck Institute and Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin.

Allison Stanger is the Middlebury Distinguished Endowed Professor at Middlebury College and the founding director of its Rohatyn’s Center for International Affairs. She holds a BS in actuarial science and mathematics from Ball State University and an AM in regional studies from Harvard University, where she also completed a PhD in political science. Stanger is a leading scholar of international politics, political economy, and tech policy, and her research explores the intersection of governance, markets, and emerging technologies, with a focus on the societal impacts of digital innovation. She is the author of Who Elected Big Tech? How Your Phone Hijacked the Constitution (forthcoming, Yale), Whistleblowers: Honesty in America from Washington to Trump, and One Nation Under Contract: The Outsourcing of American Power and the Future of Foreign Policy, both also with Yale University Press. She is also co-editor (with Hannes Werthner, et al) of Introduction to Digital Humanism: A Textbook (Springer, 2024) and co-editor (with W. Brian Arthur and Eric Beinhocker) of Complexity Economics (SFI Press, 2020). Stanger’s writing has appeared in numerous outlets, including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Financial Times, New York Times, USA Today, and the Washington Post. She has advised US policymakers and testified before Congress on issues related to government contracting, technology, and public policy. Stanger has been a member of the Council on Foreign Relations since 2004, and between 2009 and 2011 she worked as a part-time consultant to the United States Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff. Stanger has also twice served as visiting professor of government at Harvard University and has held numerous fellowships, including at the Library of Congress, Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics (Harvard), Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford), Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (Harvard), Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education (Prague), the Human-Centered AI Institute (Stanford), Institute for the Study of the USA and Canada (Moscow), New America, and the Brookings Institution. She is currently a New America Cybersecurity Fellow and an IWM Digital Humanism Fellow.