Blogger List

Alexander Kleibrink | FU Berlin 

Alexander Kleibrink is a public policy graduate from the London School of Economics and Political Science and the Hertie School of Governance. He served as policy officer at the German Federal Ministry of Finance working on the financial aspects of EU external relations. Currently, he is a doctoral researcher at the Berlin Graduate School of Transnational Studies. His research interests cover EU governance and external relations, decentralisation reforms, political economy of transition processes and anti-corruption policies.

Alina Mungiu-Pippidi | Hertie School 

Professor of Democracy Studies. She previously taught at the University of Bucharest and SNSPA Romania, and was a Visiting Scholar at Stanford, Harvard, the European University Institute and St. Antony‘s College of Oxford University, among others. She has consulted for Freedom House, UNDP and the World Bank on issues of state building in the Balkans and former Soviet Union. Her research interests include governance in transition, specifically on the impact of civil society on good governance, the EU as a rule of law promoter and institutional reform in new democracies as well as transitions to good governance.

Amitai Etzioni | The George Washington University, Washington 

Amitai Etzioni is a University Professor and Professor of International Relations at The George Washington University. He served as a senior advisor to the White House, was President of the American Sociological Association, and taught at Columbia, Harvard, and Berkeley. His books include Security First: For a Muscular, Moral Foreign Policy, From Empire to Community: A New Approach to International Relations, and The New Golden Rule: Community and Morality in a Democratic Society. His numerous academic articles are found in publications such as World Politics, Review of Politics, and International Affairs, as well as those with a wider reach, such as Foreign Affairs and Military Review. He has also written for a number of foreign language publications, such as Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Handelsblatt, and Ha’aretz. He is the founder of The Communitarian Network.

Anael Labigne | Berlin Graduate School for Transnationalstudies 

Anael Labigne is a PhD candidate at the Berlin Graduate School for Transnational Studies (BTS) and has been visiting scholar at Columbia University in 2010/11. Anael studied Sociology and Economics at the University of Heidelberg in Germany and at Lund University in Sweden. He is working on an empirically oriented dissertation in the field of political sociology to conceptualize the notion of civility and to go beyond a solely organizational perspective in civil society research. Anael contributed to Heritage, Memory and Identity (2011, Sage) and authored, among other publications, for the International Encyclopedia of Civil Society (2010, Springer) as well as the Encyclopedia of Global Studies (forthcoming, Sage).

Andre Wilkens | Andre Wilkens

Andre Wilkens has been Director of the Mercator Centre Berlin since 2011. Since 2009 he was Director Centre for International Affairs at Stiftung Mercator. He was previously Head of Strategic Communications with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva. Wilkens also headed the Soros Foundation's Open Society Institute (OSI) in Brussels and co-ordinated Soros' activities in Europe (2003-2009). He was co-initiator and founding member of the European Council for Foreign Relations and is the Chairman of the OSI Roma Advisory Board. His positions prior to this were at the Ogilvy & Mather communications agency in Brussels, the European Training Foundation in Turin and at the European Commission and European Parliament in Brussels.

Athanasios Manis | Thanasis Manis

Athanasios Manis is a PhD candidate at the European Institute department (LSE). His thesis is on the role of the EU on Turkish foreign policy change. Athanasios holds a BSc in International Relations and Organisations from University of the Aegean and an MA in Turkish studies from SOAS. His research interests include the process of European integration, European Union’s external policies, EU candidate countries’ foreign policy and philosophy of international relations.

Damian Chalmers | LSE 

Head of the European Institute and Professor of European Union Law. He has previously held posts at the University of Liverpool and the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. He is also a Jean Monnet Chair, editor of the European Law Review and EU Jurist. His areas of teaching and research include European Law and Government, Policy-Making in the European Union as well as Law and Governance of the Single European Market.

Daniel Sarmiento | Daniel Sarmiento

Daniel Sarmiento is Professor of EU and administrative law at the University Complutense of Madrid. He has been an adviser for the Spanish Ministry of the Presidency (2004-2006) and the Spanish Supreme Court (2006-2007) and serves at the European Court of Justice in the chambers of Advocate General Cruz Villalón. He is the author of several books and articles on EU law and public comparative law. He has taught and lectured, inter alia, at the Univeristy of Oxford, the European University Institute, Sorbonne-Paris I, the London School of Economics, the University of Lyon and the University of Amsterdam. He is part of the Ius Publicum project and has been the editor (2002-2009) of the Revista Española de Derecho Europeo.

David Miliband | Member of Parliament, UK 

David Miliband has worked at the top of UK government and politics for over 15 years. He was the youngest Foreign Secretary in thirty years from 2007 to 2010. As Secretary of State for the Environment he pioneered the world’s first legally binding emissions reduction Bill. As Minister for Schools he was recognised as a leader of reform. He led the policy renewal of Britain’s Labour Party under Tony Blair from 1994 to 2001. He is currently Member of Parliament for South Shields.

Stefan Collet | Hertie School 

Stefan Collet works as a Press Officer of the Dahrendorf Symposium 2011 and is also engaged as an editor of the 'Zeitschrift für Politikberatung' at the Chair of Prof. Dr. Andrea Römmele at Hertie School. He is also occupied as an online-editor for the non-profit German Scholars Organization. From 2009 until 2010 he was engaged at the Bertelsmann Stiftung and has contributed to the conception of the Reinhard Mohn Prize 2011 focusing the topic “Vitalize democracy through participation”. Collet studied political science and economics in Marburg and Stellenbosch (SA). He is a co-initiator of the multiple award-wining political journal 360°.

Ivan Krastev | Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia 

Ivan Krastev is the Editor-in-Chief of the Bulgarian Edition of Foreign Policy, and associated editor of Europe's World. He is concurrently the Chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, Bulgaria. Mr. Krastev is a member of the Board of the European Council on Foreign Relations and a Council member of the International Institute for Security Studies IISS in London. Since 2004 Mr. Krastev has been the executive director of the International Commission on the Balkans chaired by the former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato.His latest books in English are The Anti-American Century , co-editors with Alan McPherson, (CEU Press, 2007) and Shifting Obsessions: Three Essays on the Politics of Anticorruption (CEU Press, 2004). Mr. Krastev received an M.A. in philosophy from the University of Sofia.

Jakob Christian Jekat | Hertie School 

Jakob Christian Jekat is an MPP-Student at the Hertie School of Governance. He holds a Bachelor degree in Communication and Economics from Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen and studied abroad at the Universitat Abat Oliba in Barcelona. Jakob Christan Jekat gained professional experience at E.ON AG, New York German Press (nygp) and the German Federal Press Agency. Academically, he is interested in Political Communication, energy policy and Political Economy.

Johannes Erhard | Hertie School 

Johannes Erhard is an MPP-Student at the Hertie School of Governance. He has a Bachelor in Political and Administrative Science (University of Konstanz) and studied abroad at the University of Manchester. Johannes Erhard did internships at Transparency International Argentina, at the BMW Group Berlin representative office and at Joschka Fischer & Company GmbH. His academic interests are focusing on European integration, anti-corruption, energy and climate policy.

John Bruton | IFSC Ireland 

John Bruton is a former Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach) from 1994-1997. Prior to his election as Prime Minister, he was a senior Irish politician who served in cabinet as Minister for Finance, Minister for Industry and Energy and Minister for Trade, Commerce and Tourism. While Prime Minister, John Bruton presided over a successful Irish EU Presidency in 1996 and helped finalise the Stability and Growth Pact, which governs the management of the single European currency, the Euro. From 1999 until his appointment as Ambassador, he was one of ten Vice Presidents of the European People's Party. Before being appointed Ambassador to the United States, John Bruton served as a leading member of the Convention that drafted the proposed European Constitution, signed in Rome in October, 2004. He graduated from University College Dublin with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and politics in 1968 before studying to become a barrister.

Mariana Chaves | LSE 

Mariana Chaves is a PhD candidate at the LSE. Previously she has taught EU Law at UCL as a teaching fellow, worked as a stagiaire at the European Court of Justice and European Investment Bank and was called to the Portuguese Law Bar in 2004. Her research focuses on rationales for EU integration and cooperation in law and order matters and on the impact of European criminal law in national penal orders.

Lucinda Creighton | Minister of State for European Affairs, Ireland 

Lucinda Creighton T.D. is Ireland's Minister of State for European Affairs. She was elected to Dublin City Council in 2004. She qualified as a barrister before being elected to Dáil Éireann as its youngest member in 2007. She has served as Fine Gael Spokesperson on European Affairs; a member of the Joint Oireachtas (Parliamentary) Committee on European Affairs; a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Scrutiny; Chairperson of a Parliamentary Subcommittee on the role of the Oireachtas in European Affairs, Fine Gael Spokesperson on Immigration, Integration and Equality and as a member of the Joint Oireachtas (Parliamentary) Committee on Justice, Defence and Women’s Rights.

Luuk van Middelaar | Author 

Dr. Luuk van Middelaar, trained as philosopher and historian, is the author of "The Passage to Europe: A History of a Beginning" (Dutch original 2009; Hungarian and Polish translations 2011, French translation 2012, English translation forthcoming at Yale University Press). Since 1 Jan. 2010, he is the speechwriter of the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy.

Mark Hallerberg | Hertie School 

Professor of Public Management and Political Economy and Director of the Fiscal Governance Centre. He also maintains an affiliation with the Political Science Department at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. He regularly publishes on fiscal governance, tax competition, exchange rate choice, and European politics. He has also done consulting work for, among others, Ernst and Young, the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Markus Ketola | LSE 

Markus received his PhD from the London School of Economics in 2011 where he is currently a Fellow in Social Policy and Development at the Department of Social Policy. He also holds a MSc in Management of Non-governmental Organisations (2004) from the LSE. His current research interest include EU civil society policy and its impact on non-governmental organisations and other civil society group.

Marta Kozlowska | FU Berlin 

Marta Kozlowska works as a research assistant at the project ‘Embodying the Nation: Collective Emotions and National Identification. Lessons from the 2010 FIFA World Cup’ at the cluster ‘Languages of Emotions’ within the Free University in Berlin. She holds an M.A. in European Studies from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and currently completes two more postgraduates – one in Sociology from the same university and one in Sociology – European Societies at the Free University in Berlin.

Roch Dunin Wasowicz | LSE 

Roch Dunin-Wąsowicz is an MPhil/PhD student at the European Institute of the London School of Economics and Political Science. He received his MA degree from the New School for Social Research in New York City (2005-2010). He is a sociologist whose work revolves around questions of culture, European integration, and minority rights. He is writing his dissertation on the cultural dimension of post-national European belonging and cultural production in the European Union. He teaches on nationalism at the Government Department of LSE. He has worked for the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in Warsaw during the Polish Presidency of the European Council. He is an alumnus and collaborator with the Transregional Center for Democratic Studies (New York – Wrocław – Johannesburg).

Sony Kapoor | Re-Define 

Sony Kapoor is the Managing Director of the international Think Tank Re-Define which advices many governments and EU Institutions on key economic issues. He also is a member of the expert panel of the European Parliament's crisis committee and the stakeholder group of the European Banking Authority. Having started his career in financial services with ICICI, Lehman Brothers and Aquila, Sony then went on to work in the non-profit sector with the likes of Oxfam & Christian Aid and helped set up NGOs such as the Tax Justice Network & Europeans for Financial Reform. He is the author of 'The Financial Crisis – Causes & Cures' and a graduate of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology and the London School of Economics.

Sotiris Zartaloudis | Sotiris Zartaloudis

Sotiris Zartaloudis has recently submitted a PhD in European Studies in European Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) entitled: ‘Wielding soft power in a world of neglect: the impact of the European Employment Strategy in Greece and Portugal’. He holds an MSc in European Politics and Governance (LSE, Propondis Foundation Scholarship) and a BA in Sociology (University of Crete, State Scholarships Foundation (IKY) scholarship and prize for best overall performance in Sociology department of the academic year (2000-2004); "Manolis Drettakis Grant": Graduation Prize given to the Student with the best overall grade of the School of Social Sciences of University of Crete). Research interests include Europeanization, Pension and Labour Market reforms, inequality and poverty, European Social Policy, European Social Models, South-Eastern Europe. He speaks Greek (native), English, French, and Portuguese (Basic). Currently he teaches on the Political Economy and Social dimension of European integration at the LSE’s Geography and Environment Department.

Tim Vlandas | Tim Vlandas

Tim Vlandas is a PhD candidate in European Political Economy in the European Institute at the LSE. His PhD deals with the political and economic determinants of labour market policies and institutions in Europe. His other research interests include the politics of economy policy, the relation between union composition and union members’ preferences, and the interaction between wage bargaining and monetary policy. Tim blogs regularly at European Welfare States http://euwelfarestates.blogspot.com/.

Tobias Sauer | Cafebabel 

Tobias Sauer is a Berlin-based journalist who focuses on Europe in all its fascinating aspects both in his work and in his free time. He publishes in local, national and European magazines and webzines such as cafebabel.com and also serves as coordinating editor at BLN.FM’s news resort. Tobias studied political science, history, cultural anthropology and media studies at the universities of Trier, Germany, and Bologna, Italy.

Valentina Zigante | Valentina Zigante

Valentina Zigante is a doctoral researcher at the European Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science, where she is also involved in the RECON project and teaches economics and social policy. Valentina previously worked on the economics of transition at the Institute of Public Finance, Zagreb, before joining the Living Conditions and Quality of Life unit at the Eurofound in Dublin. Valentina’s research interests include: the political economy of the liberalisation of the welfare state; subjective well-being as a tool for understanding effects of public policy; welfare reform and inequality; and decentralisation reforms.

Vera Guenther | Vera Guenther

Vera Guenther holds a BA in European Studies from the University of Passau, Germany. She worked for Kerstin Müller, spokeswoman for foreign affairs for the Green party in the Deutsche Bundestag (Internship) and in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in Bonn. Vera Guenther wrote her BA thesis about European external governance (in the Ukraine) and is specialised on development cooperation and EU foreign relations.

Vincent Venus | Junge Europäische Föderalisten 

Vincent Venus believes in the vision of a European Federation. For three years he has been active for the Young European Federalists Germany, since 2010 he is a member of the board and editor-in-chief of Treffpunkt Europa online. To gain knowledge on European affairs he follows the European Studies programme at Maastricht University and is currently doing an Erasmus semester at Sciences Po Lille.

Zsolt Nemeth | Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hungary 

Zsolt Németh is currently Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Hungarian Government. He was a founding member of FIDESZ (Hungarian Civic Party) and has been a member of the Hungarian Parliament since the first free and democratic elections in 1990. Zsolt Németh acted as member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe between 1993-2008 being the Deputy Leader of the Hungarian delegation from 2002. Between 2005 to 2008, he was the Vice Chairman of the Political Affairs Committee of the Council of Europe. He is member of the Executive Committee of the European People’s Party (EPP) since 1997. Besides that Zsolt Németh is engaged in the non-profit sector: He was the founder of the Pro Minoritate Foundation, he is the Honorary Chief Superintendent of the Calvinist Congregation of Transsylvania, and a Member of the Knight's Order of the Johannites. Zsolt Németh studied political science at the Oxford University St. Anthony’s College as a visiting student between 1988-89. He earned his M.A. in Economics and Sociology at the Karl Marx (Corvinus) University of Economic Sciences at Budapest in 1987.