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In cooperation with
The list below is compiled following the order of appearance in the conference programme.
Conference welcome
Nikolaos Tzifakis (PhD Lancaster University, UK) is Associate Professor of International Relations at the Department of Political Science and International Relations of the University of Peloponnese; a Research Associate of the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies; and a member of the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG). His research interests include contemporary Balkan politics, EU external relations, and international relations theory. His recent publications include articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Conflict, Security & Development, Ethnopolitics, European Foreign Affairs Review, Global Society, International Journal, Perspectives on European Politics and Society, Problems of Post-Communism, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, Southeastern Europe and Voluntas. He has also published four monographs and five (co-)edited volumes and has authored several book chapters and conference papers. In 2008, he was awarded the Marcel Cadieux Distinguished Writing Award for his co-authored article with Professor Asteris Huliaras in International Journal.
Dr Milenko Petrovic, is Senior Lecturer Above the Bar and Jean Monnet Chair at the National Centre for Research on Europe and at the Department of Global, Cultural and Language Studies, University of Canterbury, New Zealand. His research and publications are focused on problems of post-communist transition in East Central and South-Eastern Europe and the EU’s eastern enlargement. During his nearly three decade long academic career he has presented the findings of his research in books, journal articles, international and national conferences, media interviews and guest lectures at universities worldwide. He is the author of The Democratic Transition of Post-Communist Europe (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) and the co-editor of A Quarter Century of Post-Communism Assessed (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017). He has published three other authored or (co-)edited volumes and numerous journal articles and shorter contributions on comparative politics, post-communist transition, European integration and EU enlargement.
Conference opening
Professor Athanasios Katsis, Rector, University of the Peloponnese, Greece. He has an extensive multinational professional and academic experience spanning over 20 years, and has served as a faculty member in a number of universities around the world (The World Bank, University of Toledo in Ohio, University of Cyprus and University of the Aegean, Greece). He also has experience in distance learning and seminar teaching and R&D projects in diverse fields including education, health and ICT policy analysis.
Professor Katsis has an a first degree in Mathematics (1990, University of Athens, Greece) and holds an M. Phil and Ph.D. in Statistics (The George Washington University, 1995 and 1997).
His research interests lie in the area of Social Statistics, Bayesian analysis and sample size calculations.
Professor Martin Holland, holds a Jean Monnet Chair ad personam, is Director of both the National Centre for Research on Europe at the University of Canterbury and of European Union Centres Network in New Zealand. He is an active member of a number of international EU research networks and regularly lectures in Asia including at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, the Asia-Europe Institute University of Malaya and at Sichuan University International Summer School, China.
Professor Holland is internationally recognised for his work on EU Development policy, Common Foreign and Security Policy and as well as Perceptions of the EU. He has held a number of notable awards, including: a European University Institute Jean Monnet Fellowship; Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship; Rockerfeller Bellagio Fellowship; and a Bene Merito award from the Polish Foreign Ministry.
Professor Holland is the author of over one hundred articles as well as twenty-four authored or edited books, the most recent being Communicating Europe in the Times of Crisis: External Perceptions of the European Union, (Palgrave, 2015), Europe and Asia: perceptions from afar, (Nomos, 2015) and Development Policy of the EU (Palgrave, 2012). He was also a lead participant in an EEAS/FPI project informing the 2016 EU Global Strategy: External Perceptions of the EU in Ten Strategic Partner Countries, PPMI/ EEAS, Brussels, 2015
Session 1 – Keynote Address 1
(Monday, 10:20-11:10)
Professor Ludger Kühnhardt, is Director at the Center for European Integration Studies (ZEI) at Bonn University and Professor of Political Science at Bonn University. He has extended political and academic consultancy experience, among others for the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, the President of the European Parliament, the Parliament of the West African Economic Community (ECOWAS), the West Africa Institute (WAI), the European Humanities University and the German Catholic Bishop’s Conference. From 1987 to 1989, Kühnhardt was speechwriter for Germany’s Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker. He was Professor of Political Science at Freiburg University and Visiting Professor at prestigious universities around the world, among them Cape Town University, Jena University, College of Europe, Dartmouth College, Stanford University, Seoul National University, St. Antony’s College Oxford, Canterbury University Christchurch(New Zealand) and Tongji University Shanghai. He regularly lectures at the Catholic University Milan, the Diplomatic Academy Vienna and the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies in Malta. He was a Visiting Scholar at the Hoover Institution, Stanford, the Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna, and, twice, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C., which has appointed him a Global Fellow. Professor Kühnhardt has published more than thirty books, including: European Union – The Second Founding, 2008; Region-Building. The Global Proliferation of Regional Integration, 2 vol., New York/Oxford, 2010; Africa Consensus: New Interests, Initiatives, and Partners, Washington D.C., 2014; The Global Society and its Enemies, 2017. He has lectured in almost hundred countries on all continents. In 2004, he was awarded the European Science Prize of the European Cultural Foundation. He was born in 1958 in Münster/Germany, and is married with two children.
Session 2 – Keynote Address 2
(Monday, 11:30-12:20)
Will Bartlett is Visiting Senior Fellow in the Political Economy of South East Europe at the LSEE Research Unit of the European Institute, and Visiting Research Fellow at the International Inequalities Institute, both at the LSE. He is Coordinator of the LSEE Research Network on Social Cohesion in South East Europe. He has worked as a Lecturer, Reader, and Professor at the Universities of Southampton, Bath and Bristol, and a Research Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence. His research has focused on the socio-economic development of the successor states of former Yugoslavia through the perspective of political economy. He is the author of Europe’s Troubled Region: Economic Development, Institutional Reform and Social Welfare in the Western Balkans, Routledge, 2008. He has co-edited a dozen books and authored or co-authored over 150 articles in refereed journals and book chapters. He has acted as a consultant for the European Commission, European Training Foundation, the Regional Cooperation Council, UNDP, UNICEF and various bilateral donor organisations in the region.
Session 3 (Parallel panels)
Stream 1: The remaining challenges and obstacles to EU accession of the Western Balkan candidates and potential candidates for EU membership
Panel 1.1: General conceptual and theoretical issues regarding EU enlargement into the Western Balkans
(Monday, 13:30-15:10)
Chair: Marilena Koppa, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Comparative Politics at the Department of European, International and Area Studies of Panteion University and author of several articles on minority issues, democratization, nationalism and European politics, with a preference for comparative approaches. She is an Athens Law school graduate. She gained her Ph.D on Comparative Politics at Paris–X Nanterre University (1991). For years she worked as a special adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on issues pertaining to European integration and enlargement. She has been a member of the European Parliament from 2007 to 2014. She was the Coordinator of the S&D Group at the Subcommittee on Security and Defense and also Vice-chairperson of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee. She has been a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and a substitute member of the Committee on International Trade and the Subcommittee on Human Rights. Among others, she was the rapporteur of the European Parliament “On the implementation of the CSDP based on the Annual Report from the Council to the EU on the Common Foreign and Security Policy in 2013 as well as the EP Rapporteur on ‘Enlargement: policies, criteria and the EU’s strategic interests” in 2012. She has published three books on South-eastern Europe: “A Fragile Democracy: The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia between the past and the future” (Papazisis, Athens, 1994), «The minorities in the post-communist Balkans” (Nea Synora-Livanis, Athens, 1997), «The creation of states in the Balkans» (Nea Synora-Livanis, Athens, 1997). Her last book was on the Common Security and Defense Policy, “CSDP: the history, the institutions, the strategies” (Patakis, Athens, 2017).
Ritsa Panagiotou is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre of Planning and Economic Research (KEPE) in Athens. She holds a B.A. in Political Science and Russian from Wellesley College, and an M.Phil and a D.Phil in International Relations from Oxford University. For several years she worked as a Research Associate at the European Business School (INSEAD) in Fontainebleau, France. She has been a Visiting Professor at the Athens University of Economics and Business, at the University of Athens Postgraduate Programme in Southeast European Studies, and a Visiting Research Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. Her research interests include European political economy, the political and economic development of the Balkan region, and the European Union’s Balkan enlargement. She has published in many scholarly journals, including Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Journal of Balkan and Near East Studies, the Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, and Journal of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies.
Jan Muś works as an adjunct at the Vistula University. His previous work experience includes cooperation with a number of research institutes and universities across Europe, including Southeast European University in Tetovo, University of Rijeka, University of Cologne, University of Helsinki and St. Climent Ohridski Univeristy in Sofia. His research interests include such questions as political developments in the Western Balkans, the EU enlargement policy, international relations and peripherisation. Jan authored several publications concerning mostly the Southeastern Europe and external expertise for public institutions in Poland. Employed both in private and public sectors.
Efstathios T. Fakiolas is Assistant Professor of International Relations at PSIR. He holds a Ph.D. in War Studies (KCL), MA (Merit) in IR and Strategic Studies (Lancaster), Master’s (Distinction) in International Politics and Security (Panteion), and BA (Distinction) in International Studies (Panteion). Prior to join PSIR, among other capacities, he was working for twelve years as a strategy analyst and deputy manager in the Division of Strategic Planning, Analysis and Investor Relations at ATEbank (Agricultural Bank of Greece) and as an analyst in the Economic Analysis Unit at the Piraeus Bank Group. Also, he has been a recipient of awards from, among others, NATO, DAAD, and the Onassis, MacArthur and Greek State Scholarships Foundations. His work involves an authored book (Nova Science Publishers) and articles in peer-reviewed journals, including European Security, European Foreign Affairs Review, Perspectives on European Politics and Society, and Journal of Slavic Military Studies.
Dr. Elda Zotaj graduated in 2005 at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tirana, Albania. In 2008, she finished the Master of Science on European Studies at the European Institute, University of Tirana. Since Feb 2009, she has been working as a full-time lecturer at Aleksandër Moisiu University of Durrës, Department of Political Sciences, Faculty of Political Sciences and Law. Mrs. Zotaj holds a PhD degree in “Diplomacy and International Relations in the EU”. Currently, she is Head of Political Science Department. She has participated in various scientific international and national conferences. She is the author of a number of publications in scientific journals in and abroad the country.
Esq. Ioanna Bantouna is a researcher and PhD candidate of the University of Piraeus affiliated with the Department of International and European Studies. Holding a Bachelor Degree of Laws, as well as, a Master of Laws in public international law from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Law Faculty, and a second Master of Laws from University of Pennsylvania Law School, she is also admitted to practice at the New York State Bar Association and the Athens Bar Association. As a research fellow, she has done research on several aspects related to International and European law and policy issues for EU and US programs and her PhD case study focuses on negotiation of international agreements through a cross-disciplinary approach of international relations and international law addressing the role of international and European institutions in this process
Session 3 (Parallel panels)
Stream 3/ Panel 3: The EU’s Structural Funds in South-East Europe: The impact on governance
(Monday, 13:30-15:10)
Chair: Sotiris Vandoros is Lecturer in Political Science at the Department of Political Science and International Relations where he has been teaching since 2007. His research interests include modern political theory, theory of democracy, the Greek political system, and political ideologies. His current research is focused on the relation between extremism and democracy. He studied Political Science and International Relations at Panteion University (1995). He holds an MA in Social and Political Theory from the University of Sussex (1997) and a PhD in Political Theory from Panteion University (2004). He conducted postdoctoral research in Social Sciences under the auspices of the Athens School of Fine Arts (2007). He has teaching experience in vocational training and in creative reading seminars. He has working experience in book reviewing.
Panagiotis Liargovas, Professor, Academic Coordinator Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Governance, University of the Peloponnese
Spyridon Repousis received his BA degree in Economics from Athens University of Economics and Business in 1994, his M.Sc. degree in Banking and Finance from University of Stirling, Scotland, UK, in 1995, his MBA degree from University of Nicosia, Cyprus, in 2014 and his Ph.D. in Economics from University of Peloponnese, in 2012. He has taught in Technological Educational Institute of Patras and is working in a private bank. He is a Certified Fraud Examiner and a Certified Long-Life Adult Trainee and has written books about banking and finance in Greek language and has participated in books in English language. He has written scientific articles (papers) which has been published in English journals, in areas such as Banking, Finance, Fraud and Money Laundering and has participated in many national and international conferences.
Dr. Manos G. Papazoglou received the degree of Political Science and Public Administration (Un. Of Athens) on June 2000. On September 2001 he graduated York University (UK), where he studied and researched for the degree of ΜΑ in Political Philosophy, The Idea of Toleration. On June 2005 he successfully completed and submitted a PhD dissertation to the Government Department (Essex University, UK) entitled Citizenship and Democratic Legitimacy in the European Union: Euro-Republicanism and the Concept of Responsive Citizenship. He held teaching posts in British and Greek Universities: Visiting Lecturer at the University of London, Goldsmiths College, Department of Politics, Visiting Lecturer at the London Metropolitan University, Teaching Assistant at the University of Essex, Department of Government, Panteion University, Department of Public Administration, University of the Peloponnese, Department of Politics and International Relations and Athens University of Economics and Business/ International MBA course.
Professor Asteris Huliaras holds the Jean Monnet Chair on EU Relations with Less Developed Countries. He has published in leading international academic journals including African Affairs and the Journal of Modern African Studies but also in leading international fora for debate like Survival and Orbis. He has taught in seven universities outside his country of residence (Bosnia, Canada, Finland, Turkey and the United Kingdom) as well as in six Greek universities and five professional schools. His courses at both the undergraduate and post-graduate level have covered a large number of different sub-disciplines: from comparative politics to development studies and from African politics to foreign policy analysis. He also has a long record of advising government on public policy. He has advised the Greek Ministry of Home Affairs (1992-2006), the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2001-3) and the Greek Permanent Mission in the United Nations (2002-4). He has also served as an expert in NATO (Expert Working Group on Africa) (1997-2003) and the Human Security Network (2002-4). He has been the Principal Investigator in several projects financed by the European Council, the European Commission and the Government of Greece. He has participated in EU, UN and Greek government missiona in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Professor Huliaras is currently an elected member of the Governing Board of the University of Peloponnese. He has served as Head of the Department of Geography, Harokopion University of Athens. He was (2005-11) a member of the Academic Board of the Hellenic Center for European Studies and has served as member of the governing board of the Institute for Defense Analyses (2007-8). He has also worked as a Senior Research Fellow with the Institute of International Economic Relations (1994-2009). He was for three consecutive terms an elected member of the Governing Board (Vice President) of the Hellenic Political Science Association, the professional organization of Greek political scientists.
Mr. Nikos Zaharis is the Director of South East European Research Center (SEERC). He holds a Diploma from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Chemical Engineering and an MSc degree in Chemical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University. Mr. Zaharis has more than 25 years’ experience as a consultant and manager working for industrial as well as public sector organizations on issues ranging from management of innovation to economic and regional development in Greece and in a series of eastern European countries. As SEERC’s Director, Mr. Zaharis focuses on research that facilitates the region’s sustainable development, the building of knowledge capacity and avoidance of brain-drain of the region. His research interests lie with innovation policy, responsible research and innovation (RRI), regional development and entrepreneurship. He currently participates and coordinates several EU funded projects including:
- FIT4RRI: Fostering Improved Training Tools For Responsible Research and Innovation
- MIGRATE: CTRL+Enter Europe: Jean Monnet Migrant Crisis Network
- iStart: A Lean-Training, Innovative, Multidisciplinary Digital Entrepreneurship Platform
Sotiris Petropoulos was elected Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations of the University of the Peloponnese in June 2017. He received his PhD from the Department of Geography, Harokopio University of Athens (Greece) while he holds an MA in International Political Economy from Warwick University (UK). He has taught at the University of the Aegean, of Central Greece and of Piraeus while he has participated in numerous research programs. In addition he has acted as Senior Consultant on International Donors Programs at Ernst & Young. His research interests focus on regionalism, global governance, NGOs, the East Asian Region and emerging powers, with a focus on the BRICS.
Session 3 (Parallel panels)
Stream 7: Is Turkey Still a Candidate for EU Membership?
Panel 7.2: Political and Social Aspects of EU-Turkey Relations
(Monday, 13:30-15:10)
Chair: Spyros Katsoulas graduated in 2006 from the Department of International & European Studies at the Panteion University of Athens, and pursued a Masters degree in War Studies at King’s College of London, UK. In 2007 he was awarded a three-year scholarship for doctoral research in the field of American studies from the Greek State Scholarship Foundation (IKY). In 2012 he obtained his doctorate in International Relations from the University of Reading, UK. Since 2012, he has been a Research Associate at the Institute of International Relations (IDIS) as well as at the Centre for Mediterranean, Middle East and Islamic Studies (CEMMIS). Since 2015, he has been employed as an adjunct lecturer of strategy and international relations at the Hellenic National Defence College. In 2018, he joined the Department of Political Science & International Relations (PSIR) at the University of Peloponnese where he teaches the course of Conflict Resolution. His areas of interest include strategy, geopolitics, and military & diplomatic history.
Georgia Gleoudi holds a BA in International Relation from Panteion University and a MA in Religious Roots of Europe from Lund University. She is currently completing her MA in Religion in Peace and Conflict in Uppsala University. The subject of her Thesis is “Never Again Thessaloniki-Auschwitz: The First Memory Walk for the Jews of Salonica and the reactions of the Local Press. A Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and reflection.”
Her research interests include the interfaith relations, the history of religious minorities in Greece, the ethno-cultural aspect of religion and the relations between State and religion. In the last two years, she has her own personal blog in the Huffington Post Greece where she discovers stories about religious minorities.
Francesco Pisanò is a Post-Graduate student in a Double Master’s Degree of Science in International Security, Intelligence and Strategic Studies at both the University of Glasgow and Charles University of Prague. Mr Pisanò graduated in 2016 with a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from the Catholic University of Milan. Since then, he has been conducting research on Gulf affairs and Levant issues, such as the present Turkish National Security Strategy and the current Cold War between Teheran and Riyadh. In 2016, he was awarded a scholarship to spend a period of work in Israel and Palestine for a month-long analytical project on the conflict. Over the last few years, he has worked for private and public security companies in Europe. Since the early months of this year, he has been collaborating with the George C. Marshall, European Centre for Strategic Studies as a geopolitical researcher, while working on his Master’s thesis on the development of a European Defence Market.
Chrystala Stergiopoulou has graduated from Turkish and Modern Asian Studies Department of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and has obtained a Master Degree on European Communications: Policies and Structures, from Communication and Media Department of the same university. She has worked as a researcher in various Institutes such as Institute of Research and Training on European Affairs, Jean Monnet-European Center of Excellence(Athens) and Institute of International Economic Relation. Currently she is a trainee researcher in Center for Mediterranean, Middle East and Islamic Studies. She speaks English and Turkish.
Dr. Petros Violakis is a Lecturer in South Wales undergraduate and postgraduate programs in Greece (collaborative program in Greece with IST College), partner of the Strategic Communication and News Media Laboratory of Piraeus University and Research Director at the Center for International Strategic Analyses (KEDISA). He holds a PhD degree in Politics from Exeter University, an MA in International Relations from University of Indianapolis, an MBA and a BSc in Computer Science from University of Hertfordshire. His latest research is being situated within Politics, Communication, Policy Making and European Studies. More specifically, he investigates the Europeanisation of EU Defence and Security Policy through different perspectives and contributing factors, such as: domestic politics, political economy, establishment of a new security identity and culture, research and development (R&D), globalization and other institutional influence (NATO). The result of this research is published (2018) as an academic book (monograph), entitled “Europeanisation and the Transformation of EU Security Policy: Post-Cold War Developments in the Common Security and Defence Policy” by Routledge.
Dr. Linert Lirëza is full lecturer at the Faculty of Political Sciences and Law of the University “Aleksander Moisiu” of Durrës. For more than 8 years he is engaged with research, studies, publishing, teaching in criminal law and environmental law. He is also the lawyer and member of National Chamber of Advocacy, Tirana, Albania.
Ph.D Koçi is a full time lecturer at the Faculty of Political Sciences and Law at the University of Durres “Aleksander Moisiu”, Albania since 2011. Attorney at the Tirana Chamber of Advocates since 2012; Legal Consultant for Public Procurement since 2006. He graduated in Law at the Faculty of Law “Paisii Hilendarski” Plovdiv, Bulgaria in 2003; Doctoral degree since 2017: Ph.D at the Faculty of Law, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski ” field of Cyber Crime. He is also scientific reviewer at the LIBRe Essay Contest 2016 and 2017. In 7 years of academic experience, has focused on the study of Human Sciences and Technology. He has extensively published in Albanian, Bulgarian and English scientific papers focusing on cybercrime.
Dr. Kraja was born in Shkoder on 17/08/1979 and lived there until she finished high school. For several years she has work in the banking sector firstly in a private second level bank and after in the Central Bank of Albania, in the same time she was engaged in teaching as a part time lecturer at the University of Shkodra and at the University of Tirana. Actually Dr. Kraja is a full time lecturer at University Aleksandër Moisiu” Durrës at the same time is Head Of Public Administration Department. Dr. Kraja had the “Doctorate” Scientific degree on human resources management in public administration which is also her field of scientific interest. In 11 years of academic experience she concentrated in public sector studies, management of public organizations and services. Her publishing activity is concentrated in the field of Human Resources Mangament and Organizational Behavior more specifically on performance problems – organizational and individual ones.
Session 4 (Parallel panels)
Stream 1: The remaining challenges and obstacles to EU accession of the Western Balkan candidates and potential candidates for EU membership
Panel 1.2: Challenges of the EU approach and accession conditions
(Monday, 15:30-17:00)
Chair: Dr. Aristotle Tziampiris is Professor of International Relations, Chair of the Department of International and European Studies and Director of the MSc Program in Energy: Strategy, Law & Economics at the University of Piraeus. He is also Standing Fellow at New York University’s Remarque Institute, member of the Executive Academic Board of the European Security and Defence College (ESDC), Academic Advisor to the Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC), Academic Coordinator for the Erasmus+ “Eastern Mediterranean Regional Training Partnership” Program and Examiner for the course International Relations and Politics for the entrance examinations of the Hellenic Diplomatic Academy. Dr Tziampiris was Visiting [Non-Resident] Fellow at the University of Southern California (2016-2017), Onassis Senior Visiting Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago (August-September 2016), Visiting Fellow at New York University’s The Remarque Institute (2013-2014), Visiting Scholar at Columbia University’s The Harriman Institute (2009), Director of the Center of International and European Affairs at the University of Piraeus (2012-2013), a member of the Scientific Board of the Institute of Defence Analyses (IAA-Athens, Greece, 2004-2009) and IAA’s Board of Directors (September 2005-June 2006), as well as former Research Associate at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP-Athens, Greece, 2000-2008). He is the author of The Emergence of Israeli-Greek Cooperation (Springer, 2015); Faith and Reason of State: Lessons from Early Modern Europe and Cardinal Richelieu (Nova Science, 2009); Kosovo’s Endgame: Sovereignty and Stability in the Western Balkans (IAA, 2006); International Relations and the Macedonian Question (ELIAMEP, 2003) [in Greek]; Greece, European Political Cooperation and the Macedonian Question (Ashgate Press, 2000); co-editor (with Spyridon Litsas) The New Eastern Mediterranean (Springer, forthcoming); co-editor (with Spyridon Litsas) Foreign Policy Under Austerity (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) and co-editor (with Spyridon Litsas) The Eastern Mediterranean in Transition (Ashgate Press, 2015). Dr Tziampiris has published a series of essays primarily on international relations and Greek foreign policy in the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean. His op-ed pieces have appeared in various publications and websites, including The New York Times, The Jerusalem Post, The Huffington Post, The Washington Times and the National Interest. He holds PhD and MSc (econ) degrees from the London School of Economics and Political Science and is a graduate (BA) of Middlebury College. Dr Tziampiris is married with two children.
Nikolaos Tzifakis, Associate Professor, Chair of the Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of the Peloponnese
Marilena Koppa, Associate Professor, Panteion University
Milenko Petrovic, Jean Monnet Chair, Senior Lecturer Above the Bar, National Centre for Research on Europe, University of Canterbury
Eva Teqja, Associate Professor, Lecturer University “Aleksandër Moisiu”
Gentiana Kraja, Associate Professor, Lecturer University “Aleksandër Moisiu”
Session 4 (Parallel panels)
Stream 4/Panel 4: ΕU pre-accession aid to the Western Balkans: Lessons (not) learned
(Monday, 15:30-17:00)
Chair: Panagiotis Liargovas, Professor, Academic Coordinator Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Governance, University of the Peloponnese
Islam Jusufi is Lecturer and Head of the Department of Political Sciences and International Relations at Epoka University, Tirana, Albania. Studied Politics at University of Sheffield and International Relations at Universities of Amsterdam, Bilkent and Ankara. He held fellowships at the Wilson Centre, Washington DC; EU Institute for Security Studies, Paris; ERSTE Stiftung, Vienna; UNESCO, Paris; Centre for Policy Studies, Budapest; and NATO, Brussels. His research interests relate to international, European and Balkan politics and security studies. He is appointed as alternate of the Group of Independent Experts on the European Charter of Local Self-Government in the Council of Europe.
Dr. Tsardanidis, studied Political Science at the Department of Political Science. University of Athens, B.A., European Studies, (M.SC) and International Relations (Ph.D.) at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He taught at the Panteion University as an Assistant Professor during the period (1987-1993), University of Piraeus, Ηarokopio University, University of Athens and the Hellenic Open University. He is Associate Professor at the Department of Mediterranean Studies, University of the Aegean, Rhodes and member of the Board of Directors of the Center of Security Studies. He teaches at the Public Administration School of Greece and at the Open University of Greece, the University of Athens and University of Peloponnese. Since March 1993 is the Director at the Institute of International Economic Relations based in Athens. Author of ten books and co-editor of nine. Articles of Dr. Tsardanidis have appeared in the Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of European Integration, European Foreign Affairs Review, Journal of South East European and Black Sea Studies, Journal of Political and Military Sociology, Journal of Area Studies, Geopolitics, Ethnopolitics, Southern European Yearbook, Defensor Pacis, Le Courrier des Pays de l’ Est, Perceptions, Hellenic Studies, Revue Hellenique de Droit Internationale and others .
Session 5 (Parallel panels)
Stream 1: The remaining challenges and obstacles to EU accession of the Western Balkan candidates and potential candidates for EU membership
Panel 1.3: Internal challenges
(Monday 17:10-18:30)
Chair: Nikolaos Tzifakis, Associate Professor, Chair of the Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of the Peloponnese
Adam Fagan is a co-investigator in the EU-funded MAXCAP (Maximizing the Integration Capacity of the European Union) research project http://www.maxcap-project.eu. His research focuses on the Europeanization of the Western Balkans, with particular reference to judicial reform, minority rights and environmental governance in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia. Adam is also the editor of East European Politics http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fjcs21#.Uvkw0_3DMYU.
Adam’s work has been funded by the AHRC, the British Academy, and the Leverhulme Foundation.
He is Head of School, holds a chair in European Politics at QMUL, and is also Professorial Fellow at the London School of Economics (LSEE – LSE South East Europe Research).
Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos is Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration of the University of Athens. In 2003 he was Senior Research Fellow at the Hellenic Observatory of the London School of Economics, in 2009-2010 Visiting Fellow in South East European Studies at St. Antony’s College, Oxford and in the autumn of 2016 Visiting Fellow at the Science Po, Paris. He serves on the editorial board of South European Society and Politics, Journal of Mediterranean Politics, South East European and Black Sea Studies, European Political Science Review and the Greek Review of Political Science. Dimitri studied law and sociology at the Law School of the University of Athens (LLB), the London School of Economics (MSc) and Yale University (Ph.D., awarded with distinction, 1991). Recent books in English:
- Αusterity and the Third Sector in Greece: Civil Society at the European Frontline, Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2015 (with J. Clarke and A. Huliaras).
- Socioeconomic Fragmentation and Exclusion under the Crisis, (co-edited with D. Katsikas and M. Zafeiropoulou), London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
Nevena Daković, PhD is professor of Film Theory/Film Studies (Dept. of Theory and History, FDA, University of Arts/Belgrade) and Chair of Interdisciplinary PhD Art and Media Studies (UoA). She is the author (Film Studies: Essays in Film Texts of Memory, 2014; Balkan kao filmski žanr: slika, tekst, nacija, 2008) and editor of many books (Media Archaeology, 2016; Representation of the Holocaust in the Balkans in Arts and Media, 2015) etc. Nevena Dakovic publishes widely in the national and international framework (UK, Turkey, Slovakia, Italy, Austria, France, USA), participates at the conferences and is committee member of international project groups (COST and TEMPUS projects). She is member of Academia Europaea Main research themes: nation, representation, the Balkans, Shoah, cultural memory.
Session 5 (Parallel panels)
Stream 5/Panel 5: Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia: New EU members with
“Balkan problems”
(Monday 17:10-18:30)
Chair: Asteris Huliaras, Professor, Jean Monnet Chair, University of the Peloponnese
Dr Rosen Dimov is currently the chief research officer at Innovating Horizons, a think-tank and consultancy company with offices in London, Brussels and Istanbul. Previously he has worked as project manager of research projects of the World Bank Institute, UN Agencies and the EU. Dr Dimov’s hands on experience with the Union include work in the European Parliament where he worked with the first MEPs from his home country, Bulgaria, and the European Commission where he contributed at the level of the Bureau of European Policy Advisers. His educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in International Business and Law (Saxion University, the Netherlands), a master’s degree in EU Studies (Centre International de Formation Européenne) and a PhD degree in Innovation Management obtained through a Marie Curie academic consortium. Dr Dimov is now based in Hungary where he is a part-time lecturer at the University of Pannonia.
Natalia Cugleşan is lecturer at the Departament of International Studies and Contemporary History. Faculty of History and Philosophy, Babeş-Bolyai University. She received her PhD in International Relations and European Studies from Babeş-Bolyai University. She teaches courses at undergraduate and graduate level in the field of European Studies(European Union Policies, Multi-level governance in the EU, etc.) Her research interest in European governance has resulted in the publication of serveral articles and books on multi-level governance(Romania and France) and regional policy in Central and Eastern Europe. Dr.Cugleşan is the recipient of several grants from the European Commission, Jean Monnet Module Multi-level gpvernance in the EU and Jean Monnet Information and Research Learning EU Studies at School: EU 2.0 in Secondary Schools in Romania and Republic of Moldova.
Dr. Petar Kurecic works as Associate Professor of Political Science and Geography at the University North, Croatia. He studied geography and political science at the University of Zagreb, Croatia, and holds MA and PhD titles in geography. Dr. Kurecic is the author of one book and the author or co-author of sixteen WoS/Scopus/CC indexed papers, as well as numerous other papers. His research interests are small state and small economy problematic, multipolarity, Sustainable Development Goals, security aspects of migration, and challenges to the European integration in the Western Balkans and in Wider Europe. He currently coordinates the work of the international research group “Small States in the Multi-Polar World”. Dr Kurecic received several international mobility grants (ERASMUS+, CEEPUS) and is currently developing EU projects.
Session 5 (Parallel panels)
Stream 6: The EU and the (solution of the Greek Crisis)
Panel 6.1: EU Integration Dynamics and the Greek Crisis Management
(Monday, 17:10-18:30)
Chair: Manos Papazoglou, Assistant Professor, University of the Peloponnese
Georgios Maris is currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens). His academic research focuses on Political Science, European Studies, European Political Economy, and International Political Economy. In his current work, develops an alternative model for the systematic examination of European integration, by stressing the importance of asymmetric power of the Member States. Georgios has also served as a consultant for the provision of technical assistance to the Greek authorities to support the establishment and implementation of an action plan for an effective SME policy in Greece at the Task Force for Greece (European Commission). Georgios held numerous fellowships and grands, including from the Centre for Hellenic Studies Anniversary Scholarship (Kings College London), and the Greek State Scholarships Foundation (IKY). He obtained his doctorate (DPhil) in Political Science and International Relations from the University of the Peloponnese, a MA in European Studies from King’s College London, a MSc in Political, Economic and International Relations from the University of the Aegean and a BSc in Public Administration from the Panteion University (Athens).
Vasileios Balafas is currently a PhD candidate at the Department of Political Science and International Relations – University of the Peloponnese and an Assistant Research Fellow at the Centre of International & European Political Economy & Governance (CIEPEG), an official research centre of the University of the Peloponnese. He holds an MSc in Data Communications from the Kingston University, an MA in International Relations and Policies (Governance) from the University of the Peloponnese and an MA in Local and Regional Government and Development from a joint program (University of Peloponnese, University of Piraeus, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Democritus University of Thrace). He has published a book and his recent work examines energy resources and their role in International Politics.
Dr. Georgios Archontas received his Phd in Political Philosophy from the Panteion University of Political and Social Sciences. His thesis was titled “The problem of institutional arrangement assessment: F.A. Hayek’s contribution”. He has taught Theoretical Approaches in Social and Political Institutions at the Department of Political Science and International Relations in the University of Peloponnese, and Political Philosophy and Institutional Theory at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science in the University of Athens. He has translated and edited the Greek editions of titles including Elinor Ostrom’s “Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action” (Athens: Kastaniotis, 2002), and Friedrich Hayek’s “The Constitution of Liberty” (Athens: Kastaniotis and IDKK, 2008). He has written articles in collective volumes, book introductions, and reviews.
Session 6
Roundtable Discussion: Challenges and opportunities for the Western Balkans-EU-Relationship
(Tuesday, 10:15-12:15)
Welcoming remarks
Henri Bohnet is the director of the Greece and Cyprus office of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung since January 2018. Previously, he has worked for the Foundation in Russia and Ukraine, in Serbia and in FYROM. Having also worked as a diplomat for the German foreign office in Ukraine and for the OSCE-ODIHR, he holds a degree in Political Science, Modern History and Slavic Languages.
Angelos Athanasopoulos (Senior Diplomatic and EU affairs Editor, Daily Newspaper “To Vima”, Greece) studied Communication, Journalism and Mass Media in Athens. He holds an MA in International Relations and Strategic Studies from the Department of International and European Studies in Panteion University, Athens. He has been working in “To Vima”, one of the most influential Greek newspapers, since 1997. Initially writing about international affairs, he later worked as deputy editor-in-chief in the international news department of the daily edition (2006 – 2007), before becoming a diplomatic editor in November 2007 and also defence editor in July 2009. Since May 2010, he covers European affairs. In 2011, he has been awarded the “Eleni Vlachou” prize for distinguished journalism from the Greek Parliament and the German Embassy in Athens for his coverage of European affairs. He has been selected as a European Marshall Memorial Fellow (MMF) for the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) in 2008. In parallel to his love for journalism, he is a consultant to foreign investors and diplomatic delegations in Greece and abroad.
Dr. Ognyan Minchev is the executive director of the Institute for Regional and International Studies, an independent think tank, providing policy analyses on regional and international security and cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe and a non-resident fellow with GMF’s Balkan Trust for Democracy the. Minchev is also Chair of the Board of Transparency International-Bulgaria, an anti-corruption organization. He is a professor of political science at the University of Sofia-Bulgaria, and has been a Fulbright fellow (1991-92) with the Department of International Relations at UCLA, and a visiting fellow (1999) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (D.C.). Minchev has lectured in many U.S. and European universities, and is the author of numerous publications on the post-Communist transition of Central and Eastern European countries and issues of international security and cooperation.
Nenad Sebek is a freelance international consultant for media and civil Society. Previously, he was Director of the Belgrade office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, after being spokesperson for the Regional Cooperation Council for two years. Before that he served as Executive Director of the Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe for 12 years. Prior to joining the CDRSEE in 2002, he worked as a journalist for 26 years. He spent his last two years in journalism as Moscow Correspondent for the BBC and before that worked for four years as the Balkans Correspondent, covering the region through the tumultuous 1990s. He started his journalistic career in Radio Belgrade and joined the BBC World Service in 1986.
Zoran Nechev specialises in EU-Western Balkans relations and the external dimensions of EU justice and home affairs. Since 2014, he has been an academic guest at the Center for International and Comparative Studies, ETH Zürich, examining the effects of the EU’s conditionality policy on rule of law in the Western Balkans. He also heads the Center for EU Integration at the Institute for Democracy ‘Societas Civilis’, Skopje. He is a Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung KAS PhD Fellow. He is a Senior Associate Fellow at the EUISS, involved in activities relating to the EU Global Strategy, as well as justice and home affairs in the Western Balkans.
Alexandros Mallias (Ambassador ad Honorem) served as Ambassador of Greece to the USA (2005-2009). He is a Special Advisor to ELIAMEP and he has been lecturer at the Post-Graduate Diploma in Negotiations of the Athens University for Economics and Business. He has frequently delivered lectures abroad in universities such as the Yasar University (Izmir), Prizren Public University (Kosovo), and American University (Suleymanija). In June 2012, he was appointed Member of the International Board of the International Business College in Mitrovica.He is the author of a book and several articles, blogs as well as a radio and TV commentator on diplomacy and security. He has served as Director of the Southeastern Europe (Balkan Affairs) at the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2000-2005), Ambassador to Albania (1999-2000) and first Head of Mission at the Greek Liaison Office in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) (1995-1999). He previously served with the EU Monitor Mission in the Balkans (1994) in Croatia, in Bulgaria and in FYROM.
Session 7 (Parallel panels)
Stream 7: Is Turkey Still a Candidate for EU Membership
Panel 7.1. Turkey in Limbo: Transiting to where?
(Tuesday, 13:30-15:15)
Chair: Professor Harry Papasotiriou is Chairman of the Department of International, European and Area Studies at Panteion University and Director of the Institute of International Relations, Athens, Greece. He studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford and got an MA and a Ph.D. (1992) from Stanford’s Political Science Department. He is co-author of America Since 1945: The American Moment (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, second edition 2010) and has published books and articles on the Balkans since the end of the Cold War, the War of Greek Independence, Byzantine grand strategy, American politics and foreign policy, the role of the diaspora in Greek foreign policy and international politics in the twenty-first century.
Kostas Ifantis, Associate Professor, Kadir Has University and Panteion University
Kostas Lavdas, Professor, Panteion University
Dimitris Keridis is a Professor of International Politics at Panteion University of Athens. Since 2002 he has been directing the annual Olympia Summer Academy (www.olympiasummeracademy.org) and since 2009 the Navarino Network, (www.navarinonetwork.org). He is also a regular TV and e-media political commentator (Action24 TV and OnAlert.gr). He has served as the Constantine Karamanlis Associate Professor at the Fletcher School, Tufts University, as the director of the Kokkalis Foundation in Athens and of the Kokkalis Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. His recent books in Greek include a monograph on “Nationalism, Ethnic Conflicts and International Relations: Theory and Practice in the Balkans” and “Constantine G. Karamanlis and the Foreign Press” as well as the editing of the collective volume entitled “Thessaloniki: A city in transition, 1912-2012”.
Dimitrios Triantaphyllou is Associate Professor of International Relations and Director of the Center for International and European Studies (CIES) at Kadir Has University in Istanbul. He holds a BA in Political Science and History from the University of California, Berkeley and an MA and PhD in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. He has previously served in various capacities in a number of research and academic institutions such as the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP); the EU Institute for Security Studies; the London School of Economics; the University of the Aegean; and the International Center for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS). He also served as an advisor at the Hellenic Ministry for Foreign Affairs. He is Associate Editor of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies (SSCI indexed); a member of the Greek-Turkish Forum; co-convener of the Commission on the Black Sea; a member of the Advisory Boards of the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation, the International Institute for Peace, Vienna, and the Corporate Social Responsibility Association of Turkey.
Kleanthis Kyriakidis is a Political Analyst. He holds three Masters’ Degrees, two from NPS (MS in Physical Oceanography and MA in Middle East Studies with Distinction) and a Master in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School, where he was presented with the Lucius Littauer Award. His PhD to be defended this June is on Political Islam. He has published seven books, contributed with chapters in another six and has written more than 250 articles in American and Greek journals dealing with diverse contemporary issues. He has been a guest lecturer to Universities/ Institutions around the Globe and has participated in 50 international conferences. He has been a Senior Editor for the Harvard Kennedy School Review and is a member of the European Consortium for Political Research, International Political Science Association, International Public Policy Association, Hellenic Society of International Law & International Relations, Academy for Strategic Analyses and Strategy International Institute.
Session 7 (Parallel panels)
Stream 1: The remaining challenges and obstacles to EU accession of the Western Balkan candidates and potential candidates for EU membership
Panel 1.4: Intraregional relations
(Tuesday, 13:30-15:15)
Chair: Sotiris Roussos is Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations of the University of Peloponnese and Head of the Centre for Mediterranean, Middle East and Islamic Studies (CEMMIS). He has also taught Middle East Politics and International Relations at the Department of International and European Studies of Panteion University, Athens. He obtained a BA in History at the University of Athens and an MA in Near and Middle East Area Studies at the School of Oriental and Africa n Studies, Universi ty of London. In 1991 he was awarded with the Scholarship of Alexander S. Onassis Foundation and, in 1994, he obtained a Doctorate in Modern History of the Middle East at the School of Oriental and African Studies. From 1997, he served as Senior Middle Eas t Expert at the Greek Foreign Ministry. He was member of the Task Force for the Palestinian Refugees and Water Issues of the EU Special Represenative Amb. M. Moratinos and of the International Informal Group on the Status of Jerusalem. He has been one of t he main organisers of the Peace Inititiave «Athens Meetings» between Israelis and Palestinians in the period 1997 – 2000 as well as of the Middle East Regional Forum of Local and Regional Women Entrepreneurs, held in Athens, in June 2008. Sotiris Roussos was , in 2009, appointed Personal Envoy for the Mediterranean Partners of the President – in – Office of the OSCE. Visiting Scholar at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in 2012.
Dr Yorgos Christidis is an Assistant Professor of Comparative Politics in the Balkans at the Department of Balkan, Slavonic and Oriental Studies of the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece. He is also a Research Fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Security Policy (ELIAMEP), and a Visiting Professor at the Faculty of History, University of Sofia “Sv. Kliment Ohridski”, Bulgaria. His research interests include political parties and minority issues, foreign policy and bilateral relations in Southeastern Europe.
Assistant Professor Ana Chupeska Stanishkovska Sc. Pol. (1981) holds Master of Science in IR and PhD in Political Science. As Assistant Professor, she teaches several subjects at Political Science Dept.Faculty of Law ” Iustinianus Primus ” where she is also the Head of Political Theory Cathedra; as well as a Executive Secretary of Political Science Dept. and of the Political Science Master Collegium. She is a member of the editorial board of the academic Journal “Iustinianus Primus Law Review”,as well as of ” Contemporary Macedonian Defence” – Macedonian Ministry of Defence Academic Journal. She is a Vise – President od Macedonian Political Science Association, but also a Council member of the NGO Transparency Macedonia.
Professor Bozo Drašković is on the full-time faculty at the Institute of Economic Sciences in Belgrade where he has worked on and published a number of academic and commercial research projects in the field of enterprise restructuring, market research, capital assessment and foreign direct investment. He teches Microeconomics at the Faculty for Banking, Insurance and Finance, University UNION in Belgrade and Ecology Economics at the Faculty for Applied Ecology Futura, University Singidunum, Belgrade.
Dionysios Stivas: Currently, a Ph.D. candidate at the Government and International Studies’ Department of Hong Kong Baptist University, Dionysios Stivas holds an M.A. in European Union International Relations and Diplomacy from the College of Europe, an LL.M. in European Law from Maastricht University, and an LL.B. in International Law from the University of The Hague. Before commencing his Ph.D. studies, he worked as a legal consultant for the OECD in Paris and offered his services to the Media and Communications Department of the Court of Justice of the European Union. His research interests focus on the European Union and include security, securitization, migration, and European integration.
Simone Benazzo is an independent researcher, currently working in Brussels. He holds a Bachelor in Political Communication (University of Bologna), a MA in International Relations (University of Turin) and a MA in European Studies (College of Europe, Natolin). In 2016 he conducted a fieldwork research in Sarajevo (Bosnia). His interests revolve around the post-Communist space, ranging from the Western Balkans to Eastern Europe, with a specific focus on memory politics. He has contributed inter alia to the Journal of Nationalism, Memory and Language Politics and New Eastern Europe. As a freelance journalist and policy analyst, he has published on Limes, Eastwest and Balkan Insight. In May 2018 the reporters’collective he belongs to, volna mare, released a book titled “The future after Lenin. Journey to Transnistria” (DOTS Edizioni), based on their trip to the region in August 2017.
Session 7 (Parallel panels)
Stream 2: The EU’s peace and statehood-building efforts in the Western Balkans- failures and achievements
Panel 2.1: The role of EU missions and conditionality
(Tuesday, 13:30-15:15)
Chair: Professor Martin Holland, Jean Monnet Chair, Director of the National Centre for Research on Europe, University of Canterbury
Maja Kovačević is an Associate Professor of European Studies at the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Political Sciences (International Studies Department). Previously, she had been researcher at the Institute of Economic Sciences (1995-2001) and the head of the European Integration Office of the Federal Republic of Yougoslavia (2001-2003). She teaches History of European Integration, the EU as a Global Actor and the EU Justice and Home Affairs. Her main research areas include governance of the EU, EU enlargement, EU and the Western Balkans, EU Common Foreign and Security Policy. She has published a number of book chapters and articles on European Integration. Her most recent book is “European Integration Principals” (2016).
Ivana Boštjančič Pulko, PhD candidate in International and Diplomatic Studies. She works as Head of Programme Peace and Security at the Centre for European Perspective (CEP), Slovenia. She implemented programmes in the field of security sector reform in the Western Balkans as part of the official development assistance by the Republic of Slovenia (topics included integrated border management, organised crime, anti-corruption trainings for police, defence sector reform at joining NATO, etc). and has recently focused on research and capacity enhancement activities in the field of peacebuilding and conflict prevention, most importantly in the framework of European New Training Initiative for Civilian Crisis Management (ENTRi), H2020 research project Improving the Effectiveness of Capabilities in EU Conflict Prevention (IECEU) and a new H2020 project on technologies in civilian CSDP missions. She has published several articles on the topic of EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy missions in the Western Balkans.
Dr. Enver Abdulahi currently holds the position of Assistant Professor at the University of Mother Teresa, Skopje, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. He teaches Europeanization of the South East Europe and International Organizations and has rich educational and working experience in this field. Prior to this position, he has served as an ambassador of the FYROM to the Kingdom of Norway. In addition, he has both teaching and administrative experience from South East European University, where he has taught and been the head of the International Relations office and in charge of a couple of EU projects (e.g. European Mobility -Tempus Project, ISDIM). He has also attended and presented in many national and international conferences and institutions, in particular during his position in Norway. His work and publications are within the area of his expertise. Coming from a multiethnic society, he is multilingual and speaks many languages fluently.
Anastasios Filntisis has a BA in “Political Science and International Relations” from the University of Peloponnese and a MA in “European and International Studies” from the University of Athens. Currently he is working on his doctoral dissertation “Greece, EC/EU and international terrorism, from Cold War to the “new terrorism”: historical, political and ideological aspects”. His research interests include Greek and European modern history, Cold War history and contemporary international security challenges. Since September 2016 he is head of the analysis department in the Konstantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy. Selected Publications: Refugees, Smugglers and Terrorists, Migration fuels human smuggling in the Mediterranean region, Per Concordiam, Vol 7, Issue 3, (October 2016) pp. 30-35 (with Vasileios Koutsoliakos), “From the “threat from the North” to the “threat from the East”: The withdrawal of Greece from NATO’s military wing and the revision of the Strategic Doctrine” (in Greek: “Από τον «από Βορρά» στον «εξ Ανατολών» Κίνδυνο: Η Έξοδος της Ελλάδας από το Στρατιωτικό Σκέλος του ΝΑΤΟ και η Αναθεώρηση του Στρατηγικού Δόγματος”, Strategikon (in Greek: Στρατηγικόν), Vol.1 (June 2017, pp. 95-116).
Donald Gkelios is currently a PhD Candidate at the Department of International, European and Area Studies, Panteion University of Social and Political Studies. He received his first degree LLB in Law from the Department of Law at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He holds two postgraduate degrees, LLM in “European Law and Policy” from the Department of International, European and Area Studies, Panteion University and MA in “Southeast European Studies” from the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Athens. Also, from 2006 he works as a Lawyer, member of Athens Bar Association. The title of his PhD thesis is “The legal and political dimensions of the EU’s constitutional triangle as a tool in its external policy: the case of Western Balkans”.
Session 8 (Parallel panels)
Stream 2: The EU’s peace and statehood-building efforts in the Western Balkans – failures and achievements
Panel 2.2: BiH and Kosovo
(Tuesday, 15:35-17:05)
Chair: Dr. Milenko Petrovic, Jean Monnet Chair, Senior Lecturer Above the Bar, National Centre for Research on Europe, University of Canterbury
Dr Costas Laoutides is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at Deakin University. His research focuses on separatist conflicts and the relationship between causes and political accommodation. Drawing on comparative separatist case studies he investigates how political violence is invested with elements of collective identity and territoriality, thus transforming the dynamics of human relations within the conflict. He has published academic journal articles and chapters in academic volumes on issues related to the secessionist phenomenon, such as the collective moral agency and collective responsibility of separatist organisations, the economic survival of unrecognised states, and the hegemonic aspects of secession. He has published three books: Self- Determination and Collective Responsibility in the Secessionist Struggle (Ashgate/Routledge 2015), Territorial Separatism in Global Politics: Causes, Outcomes and Resolution (Routledge 2015, with Damien Kingsbury), and Myanmar’s ‘Rohingya’ Conflict (Hurst/Oxford University Press 2018, with Anthony Ware).
Dr Rok Zupančič is a Marie Curie post-doctoral fellow at the Centre for Southeast European Studies, University of Graz, and Assistant Professor at the University of Ljubljana. He pursues a Marie Curie research project KOSNORTH, which analyses the intra-ethnic conflict in the north of Kosovo, the role of the EU in this respect, and the psychosocial implications of insecurity in this territory for the locals. Recently, he also started leading the team of the University of Ljubljana (Faculty of Social Sciences) in a new H2020 project entitled RePAST (Revisiting the Past, Anticipating the Future; coordinated by the Cyprus University of Technology), being responsible for research in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Karla Koutkova is a policy anthropologist with a doctorate in Political Science from Central European University in Budapest. After a decade in teaching, research and consultancy in the area of state-building, public policy, and social inclusion in the post-conflict countries of Southeast Europe, Hungary, Austria and Canada, she is now back in the Czech Republic as Assistant Professor of Humanitarian and Conflict Studies at Palacky University in Olomouc. Karla has previously contributed to the United Nations Development Programme, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and Commission for International Justice and Accountability. Her work appears in Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, Critical Policy Studies, edited volumes on ethnography of corruption and informality, and state-building in Southeast Europe.
Giorgos Triantafyllou is a Research Fellow at the South-East Europe Programme of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) and a Project Manager at the Greek NGO METAdrasi – Action for Migration and Development. He holds a Ph.D. in International Conflict Analysis from the University of Kent, UK, with a particular focus on the provision of military and human security during peacebuilding operations. Prior to joining ELIAMEP he worked for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (Peacebuilding Programme and Western Balkans Programme) and for the University of Kent. His main research interests are: International Relations and International Security, Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Security Sector Reform, International Institutions and Peace Operations, International Security and Migration, Peacebuilding and Statebuilding, NATO, the Balkans, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Middle East.
Session 8 (Parallel panels)
Stream 1: The remaining challenges and obstacles to EU accession of the Western Balkan candidates and potential candidates for EU membership
Panel 1.5: External relations
(Tuesday, 15:35-17:05)
Chair: Koniordos Sokratis (BA, Deree, BA Panteion, MA Kent, PhD LSE) is Full Professor at the Dept. of Political Science & International Relations, University of Peloponnese, Greece. He has also taught at the following universities: Middlesex, Quest-Nanterre-Paris 8, Crete, Cyprus, Milan-Bicocca, Open, Thessaloniki, and HOU. Main research interests include: economic sociology, work, migration, modernity, civil society, values. Currently, he is Chair of the National Associations Council, European Sociological Association, Editor of Greek Sociological Review, and Principle Investigator of the WVS-wave 7 for Greece.
Koniordos’ has published 18 volumes; for instance, The Handbook of European Sociology, New York/London, Routledge, 2014 (with A. A. Kyrtsis); Conflict, Citizenship and Civil Society, London: Routledge, 2010 (with P. Baert, G. Procacci and C. Ruzza); Towards a Sociology of Artisans: Continuity and Discontinuities in Comparative Perspectives, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001. Also, he has authored several research papers, for example: “An Overview of Greece’s ‘Brain Drain’ and the Crisis: Morphology and Beyond”, in Ch. Giousmpasoglou, et al. (eds), Brain Drain in Higher Education: the case of the Southern European Countries and Ireland, (2017), New York, Nova Publishing, pp. 17-70. “Living on Borrowed Money: On the Social Context and Responses of the Current Greek Crisis”, (2011), Economic Sociology: The European Electronic Newsletter, 12 (3): 48-57. “Social Capital Contested” (2008), International Review of Sociology, 18(2): 317-337.
Ivica Bakota: As Phd student at Peking University, with degree in international relations, I have worked as a researcher for the Institute of Central East European Studies. Currently, I joined Capital Normal University as a teacher and researcher at the Center for Study of Civilizations. Recently, I have participated in conferences that cover China-CEE relations and published papers on politics and economy of the South East European countries.
Charalampos Panagiotidis is Cultural Coordinator for the Primary Education District of Western Attica and a PhD student at the University of Peloponnese (Corinth). He graduated from the Department of Primary Education (University of Thessaly) in 2008 and holds a master’s Degree in political science and international relations (2014). Currently, he is conducting his PhD research in the field of Cultural Diplomacy and Youth Politics. From 2008 till 2017 he worked as a primary school teacher and since 2015 he is a research fellow at the Konstantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy. He speaks Greek, English, German and Swedish.
Péter Kacziba is an assistant lecturer in the Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Pécs. Between 2015-2016, he worked as a junior research fellow in the Research Centre for Economic and Regional Studies at Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He teaches several university courses in English including ‘Eastern Mediterranean Triangle: Greece, Turkey and Cyprus in the 20th and 21st century’ and ‘The Balkans in the 19th and 20th century’. Since 2015, he participates in the educational training of Hungarian, Serbian and Slovakian peacekeepers delegated to UNFICYP, Cyprus. He holds a summa cum laude Ph.D. degree in political science (2017).
Vasilis Kyriazis, is a Holder of a Masters’ Degree in Southeast European Studies (University of Athens) and a Bachelors’ Degree on Balkan studies (Aristoteleio University of Thessaloniki). Currently, Vasilis is a PhD Candidate at the University of Thessaly in the Department of Economics. His PhD thesis is about the Impact the Directive 2009/81/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council has on the European Defence Industry. Vasilis is a tested professional, extensively involved, as an industry analyst, in the management and implementation of projects related to defence in several countries around the world, working in close contact with local High Technology, Aerospace and Defence entities. His professional endeavors also include the compilation of Offset and Industrial Cooperation reports and the analysis of national and international Offset and Industrial Cooperation regulations.