The Jean Monnet Chair in ‘EU Foreign Policy and the Western Balkans’ (EU-FP-WB) develops teaching, research and outreach activities about the role that the EU has been playing internationally towards the promotion of conflict resolution, democracy, and economic development, focusing on the Western Balkans. While the region in question is formally set on the path to EU accession, we are observing during the last years the consolidation of democratic backsliding and state capture, the rise of aggressive nationalism that challenges stability and peacebuilding, and the widening of economic divergence from the EU-27 countries. Very worryingly, the Western Balkans have also emerged as a chessboard of geopolitical competition between the EU, the United States, Russia, China, Turkey, and the Gulf countries. The Chair’s teaching activities acquaint undergraduate and postgraduate students of the University of the Peloponnese with the Union’s efforts to promote its values and norms beyond its immediate borders, paying particular attention to the case of candidate and potential candidate member-states in the Western Balkans. The Chair’s research activities assess the effectiveness of EU policies towards the region and strive to contribute to the articulation of policy recommendations. Lastly, the Chair’s outreach activities focus on informing representatives of selected target groups (e.g., the youth and civil servants) about the interests that the EU defends internationally and its role as a security provider and donor of assistance in the Western Balkans.
Nikolaos Tzifakis (PhD, Lancaster University) is Professor of International Relations at the Department of Political Science and International Relations of the University of the Peloponnese; Research Associate with the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies; and member of Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group. His research focuses on international relations theory, EU external policies and the Western Balkans. His publications include articles published in journals such as Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Conflict Security & Development, Ethnopolitics, European Foreign Affairs Review, Global Society, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, International Journal, Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans, Problems of Post-Communism, and Southeast European and Black Sea Studies. In 2008, he was awarded the Marcel Cadieux Distinguished Writing Award for his co-authored article with Professor Asteris Huliaras that was published in International Journal. He recently co-edited (with Florian Bieber) the book The Balkans in the World: Linkages and Relations with Non-Western Countries that was published in 2020 by Routledge.
Smaro Boura is a PhD Student at the Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of the Peloponnese. Her research focuses on the EU democracy promotion efforts in the Southern Mediterranean and the Western Balkans.
Eleni Vasdoka is a graduate student of the Department of Balkan, Slavic, and Oriental Studies of the University of Macedonia and holds an MA in Global Risks and Analytics from the Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of the Peloponnese. She has research interest on youth cooperation and on the role of disinformation in the Western Balkans.
Dionyssis G. Dimitrakopoulos, Jean Monnet Chair in “Democratic Governance in the European Union” and Professor at Panteion University, explains the main challenges in implementing EU public policies. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvRduT99gkI
Dr. Evangelia Psychogiopoulou, Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations of the University of the Peloponnese, explains whether sustainable development is a constitutional value of the EU. See: https://youtu.be/lUSyQCPKwFU?si=moEGMrUCh0sOYMI_
Dr. Tena Prelec, Assistant Professor at the University of Rijeka, explains the concept of corrosive capital. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfobV3CkWvA
Department of Political Science & International Relations
University of the Peloponnese
Tel. +30-27410-40045
info.jmc.eufpwb@gmail.com
