Chairman, Centre for Liberal Strategies
Ivan Krastev chairs the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia and is a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences, IWM Vienna. He is a founding board member of ECFR, a member of Open Society Foundations’ global advisory board, a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, and the author of the widely acclaimed book “After Europe”. In 2020, he was awarded the Jean Améry Prize for European essay writing. Previously, he served as executive director of the International Commission on the Balkans and as editor-in-chief of the Bulgarian edition of Foreign Policy.
The meeting of Angela Merkel, Dmitri Medvedev and Nicolas Sarkozy at the French seaside resort of Deauville on Monday 18th has the right agenda – European security – but the wrong actors. A trialogue involving the EU, Russia and Turkey would be the best way to rethink security in Europe.
The EU needs to build a trialogue on security with Russia and Turkey
The tragedy of the Polish air crash has formed a new bond between Poland and Russia. But will they be able to do in the east what France and Germany have done in the west?
When it comes to Russia, central Europeans are rightly concerned about Obama’s ‘reset’ policy, but for the wrong reasons
The success of President Obama's “reset” policy with Russia will depend not only on getting U.S. actions toward Moscow right but also on getting insight into the way the Kremlin views the United States and its new president.
To persuade Russians to join him, Obama must first demonstrate that he does not need them
ECFR publishes a collection of views from key Russian intellectuals
The political fallout of the Russia-Georgia war of August 2008 affects far more than the main combatants
Twenty years after the end of the Cold War, Central and Eastern Europe is no longer at the heart of American foreign policy. A GMF policy brief.
Russia’s flawed understanding of 21st-century international politics means that its military success in the war with Georgia could be followed by its strategic defeat
Recent polling for ECFR suggests that Europeans have come closer together in their support for Ukraine. But the factors driving this unity are fragile, contingent, and may not last
New polling for ECFR reveals the West is consolidating – while facing an increasingly post-Western world, in which powers such as India and Turkiye are readier than ever to act independently
New ECFR research reveals that Europeans are split about the long-term goals of the war in Ukraine. Unless political leaders find a new language to bridge the gap between emerging “Peace” and “Justice” camps, Europe could become polarised between – and within – countries.
Europeans are united around three key ideas about the war in Ukraine. The crisis will likely test their readiness to defend the European security order.
A majority of European citizens believe a new cold war with both China and Russia is under way – but they mostly do not think that their own country is involved
Europe’s covid-19 experience has been a tale of two pandemics – and the differences in each story could haunt the continent for many years to come
Most Europeans rejoiced at Joe Biden’s victory in the US presidential election, but they do not think he can help America make a comeback as the pre-eminent global leader
New research reveals that the crisis has revolutionised citizens’ perceptions of global order – scrambling the distinctions between nationalism and globalism
Following Russia’s March 2018 election, the behaviour of the country’s elites will be defined by the expectation of the president’s departure
The EU cannot hope to transform Russia, but it should be aware of the price of secluding it
From Trump to Lukashenka, authoritarians are discovering that this isn’t their kind of crisis
Victory for Joe Biden in November would empower liberals in former Habsburg lands
The Covid-19 crisis will dramatically reshape the EU’s response to all other crises it has faced in the last decade
As Western leaders gather in London this week, you might be able to detect a huge rupture beneath the surface
This month’s EU elections aren’t a fight between nationalists and progressives. They are total chaos.
Right-wing populists think voters obsess about immigration. But that’s not the case.
Fears about political and economic marginalisation have damped the spread of new EU-optimism to Central Europe
“Go and love yourself” is essentially Mr. Trump’s message to his European allies.
In the new polycentric world, global institutions must be reformed so that regional powers have a say in the system
The Deauville summit involving Sarkozy, Merkel and Medvedev was always likely to be a non-event, beyond the recognition that Europe is now a multipolar continent. Instead we need a new system – an informal trialogue on European security that would keep the EU united, Russia post-imperial and Turkey European.
New ECFR/YouGov research reveals huge fluidity in current voting intentions: 70 percent of Europeans certain to vote are yet to make their choice. Nearly 100m swing voters are up for grabs.
Mark Leonard, Timothy Garton Ash, and Ivan Krastev discuss the main findings of ECFR’s latest opinion poll
We turned 15! Time to reflect on the past years and ECFR’s role in helping Europe find a strong, united voice
New ECFR research reveals that Europe’s remarkable unity in the early days of the war is under threat from an emerging split – between those who want peace as soon as possible and those who favour justice for Ukraine
As covid-19 raged, speculation grew that the crisis would re– strengthen public support for the state; faith in…
Podcast de notre conférence du 24 avril « L'avenir de la démocratie en Europe » en partenariat avec la Revue Esprit, en présence…
ECFR's Policy Fellow and Associate Director of the Madrid Office, Francisco de Borja Lasheras, and ECFR Board Member and chairman of the Centre of…
Concluding that Russia poses a threat and that the EU let its dependencies grow too deep, the bloc so far attempted to decouple from Moscow. How should Europeans navigate the adversarial relationship in the future?
The event will launch an exciting new report by Ivan Krastev and Mark Leonard, based on public opinion polling in 11 countries
Ukraine realizes that in the last months, they’re not bordering Poland, they’re bordering Polish elections
Ivan Krastev explains the shift in Polish policy to stop delivering new weapons to Ukraine
Don’t focus on U.S.-China competition, as they are not going to be able to discipline fragmentation as Russia and America did in the Cold War.
Ivan Krastev comments on world order ahead of the G20 summit in New Delhi
A year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine it turns out that expectations of a split were misguided
Ivan Krastev and Mark Leonard explain that Putin and Xi’s hopes of driving a wedge between Europe and the US have not been realised
Europe’s unity over the war in Ukraine could evaporate in the face of a successful Russian counter-offensive
Krastev and Leonard reflect on the European unity after the war
Russia is widely seen as an “adversary” or “rival” by Europeans
In ECFR’s latest polling report, Ivan Krastev and Mark Leonard analyse how attitudes to Russia have changed