South East European Studies at Oxford (SEESOX)

South East European Studies at Oxford (SEESOX) under the direction of Dr. Othon Anastasakis belongs to the Department of European Studies at St Antony´s College at the University of Oxford under the direction of Professor Timothy Garton Ash.

From 2003 to 2005, the University of Konstanz and SEESOX enjoyed a strong, close and very fruitful co-operation within the framework of a research project on EU-Turkey-Relations supported by the “Volkswagen Foundation” from 2003 to 2005. SEESOX is an internationally well-known institution for empirical research in the field of political sciences and history. With SEESOX, the consortium will receive a partner of excellence with high scientific competence and a world wide academic reputation, credentials that will certainly strengthen the self-estimation, the standards of work and the motivation of all members of the consortium. The new partner will enlarge the academic and non-academic social networks of the consortium and strengthen the perception of the consortium by the public especially in the English-speaking world. The partner from the University of Oxford also offers excellent opportunities for dissemination of the project results to both the scientific community, experts and practitioners in anti-corruption policies and the wider public.

Dr. Othon ANASTASAKIS, Director

Director of the South East European Studies at Oxford (SEESOX). Previously he was Research Fellow at the London School of Economics; Expert & Advisor on European Union matters at the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Lecturer at the National School of Administration and Local Government in Athens. He has written extensively on comparative authoritarian regimes, the European extreme right, EU’s Eastern enlargement, EU-Balkan relations and Greek foreign policy. His current focus is on democratisation and transition in South East Europe and Turkey’s accession into the European Union. He studied Economics at the University of Athens, Comparative Politics and International Relations at Columbia University, New York and obtained his PhD in Comparative Government from the London School of Economics.

Qualification for the Accomplishment of the Task

The UK-study to be co-ordinated by Dr. Anastasakis will be of great importance for the overall comparative analysis in the third phase of the project and will deliver a precondition to understanding how different cultural traditions in all socio-political levels affect the way corruption is perceived and additionally how this influences the effectiveness of anti-corruption policies. In his function as director of SEESOX Mr Anastasakis has gained, precious experience in conducting international comparative studies and it is expected that the research team at SEESOX under his supervision will deliver relevant results to be used within the intercultural comparison. The successful collaboration between the project management at the University of Konstanz and Dr. Anastasakis within other intercultural studies on the grounds of a similar project design will contribute to a fruitful co-operation within the “Crime and Culture” research project.

Dr. Sappho XENAKIS

Dr. Xenakis has completed her DPhil on ‘‘International Norm Diffusion and the Development of Organised Crime Policy in Greece, 1989-2001’ in International Relations at St. Antony’s College, Oxford, where she runs a seminar group on Organised Crime and Corruption for postgraduates at the university. She is a Research Associate on Organised Crime at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), Athens, and was recently a Foreign Fellow of the Onassis Foundation and an ESRC Research Student.

Qualification for the Accomplishment of the Task

The participation of Dr. Xenakis in both the SEESOX team and in the research consortium is against the background of her scientific competence and qualification of great importance. Her research focus on organised crime and corruption as well as the ways in which the UK has contributed to or hindered the development of perceptions of corruption in EU-Candidate States (with particular reference to the Candidate States in question) will make a fundamental contribution to the objectives of the UK-study. As a function of her experience in both qualitative research and intercultural comparison studies, she will be able to meet the required research criteria. Furthermore, she will not only participate in the national teamwork in order to deliver the expected results of the case study, but also contribute to better understanding cultural dispositions within the intercultural analysis.

Kalin IVANOV (M.A.)

Kalin Ivanov is a doctoral candidate in international relations at the University of Oxford. His dissertation explores the impact of EU conditionality on the politics of anticorruption in Bulgaria and Romania. The research is based on over 50 interviews in Sofia, Bucharest and Brussels.

Mr. Ivanov holds an MA in European Studies from New York University and a BA summa cum laude in international relations and economics from Connecticut College. He is currently book reviews editor at St Antony's International Review (STAIR) and an undergraduate tutor in EU politics and governance at Hertford College Oxford. He has previously interned at the EastWest Institute in New York, the EU Information Centre in Sofia, the Centre des études européennes de Strasbourg, and the UN Information Centre in Washington, DC.

Qualification for the Accomplishment of the Task

Mr. Ivanov's research interest in corruption within its local context, and his experience with qualitative empirical methods will enable him to carry out the proposed work within the SEESOX research team.