Dr. Kostas A. Lavdas

The Constantine G. Karamanlis Professor of Hellenic and European Studies at The Fletcher School. He is Professor of European Politics and Director of the Centre for Political Research and Documentation (KEPET) at the University of Crete, where he was previously Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs and Personnel and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences. Born in Athens in 1964, he studied political science, political philosophy, public policy and international relations in Greece, the UK (at LSE and the University of Manchester) and the USA (at MIT). He has published extensively (in English, German, and Greek) on the EU, European politics, comparative Mediterranean politics and public policy, comparative interest group politics and applied political theory. He has taught (as a Professor, an Associate Professor and a Senior Lecturer) and researched (as a Senior Research Fellow and a Research Associate) at various universities and research centers in Europe and the USA, including Cambridge, Berlin, Bristol, and the National School of Public Administration in Athens. Coordinator, Greek team, EU-funded European Joint Master’s Programme on Governance for Sustainable Development (GAVA) (BRD, FR, GR, PL, UK). Author of numerous chapters in international volumes (The Political Economy of Privatization, Verbände und Interessengruppen in den Ländern der Europäischen Union, Verbände und Verbandssysteme in Westeuropa, Republicanism in Theory and Practice, The New Balkans, among others) and articles in distinguished international refereed journals (including European Journal of Political Research, West European Politics, Journal of Political and Military Sociology, Politics, among others). He regularly serves as a referee for international journals (including Political Studies, European Journal of Political Theory, Journal of European Public Policy, Government and Opposition, Ethnic and Racial Studies, and others) and research funding institutions (including the ESRC of the UK). He has served as a member of the Board at the Hellenic Center for European Studies (EKEM) and at the Center for Educational Research (KEE). Country Expert (Greece) in Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) International Project. In 2007-2008 he was the Constantine Karamanlis Professor at The Fletcher School, Tufts University, USA, and in 2009 he was a Senior Research Fellow at the European Institute, The London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.