Ivan Krastev

Born on January 1, 1965 in the town of Lukovit. His father Yoto Krastev is a journalist, and later a member of the Central Committee of the BKP and head of the “Mass Information Media” department at the Central Committee of the BKP. His mother Latinka Krasteva, teacher of Bulgarian language and literature.

Krastev received his secondary education at the 114th high school with English language teaching in Sofia. He graduated in philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. In 1991 he studied for a year at St Anthony’s College, Oxford University on an Open Society scholarship.

He is the Chairman of the Board of the Center for Liberal Strategies[2] and a researcher at the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences in Vienna (IWM Vienna). Founder and member of the European Council for Foreign Policy, board member of the Erste Foundation. He is on the international editorial board of Europe’s World, Journal of Democracy and Transit – Europäische Revue.

He was the executive director of the International Commission for the Balkans, chaired by the former Prime Minister of Italy Giuliano Amato. He was the editor-in-chief of the Bulgarian edition of the magazine “Foreign Policy” (2005 – 2011).

He was ranked 85th in Foreign Policy’s 2008 list of the world’s 100 most influential intellectuals.

His articles appear regularly in the Bulgarian and foreign press. He is the author (and co-author) of about a dozen books published in several languages.

Winner of the Jean Amery European Essay Award (2020).