Kostas A. Lavdas is Professor of European Politics and Head, Department of Political Science, University of Crete, Greece 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 sociology, public policy and international relations in Athens, the UK (at LSE and Manchester), and the USA (at MIT). He has published extensively in English, German and Greek on European politics, Greek politics and 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 several universities and research centers in Europe and the USA. Author of The Europeanization of Greece: Interest Politics and the Crises of Integration (London / New York: Macmillan / St Martin's Press, 1997), Politics, Subsidies and Competition: The New Politics of State Intervention in the European Union (with M. Mendrinou) (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 1999), Formation and Development of the European Communities (in Greek) (Patras: Hellenic Open University, 2003), Interests and Politics: Interest Organization and Patterns of Governance (in Greek) (Athens: Papazisis, 2004), Politics between the Potential and the Familiar (in Greek) (Athens: Sideris, 2010), and A Republic of Europeans: Civic Potential in a Liberal Milieu (with D. Chryssochoou) (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2011). Co-editor (with D. Chryssochoou) of European Unification and Political Theory: The Challenge of Republicanism (in Greek) (Athens: Sideris, 2004) and (with D. Chryssochoou and D. Xenakis) of Directions in the Study of International Relations (in Greek) (Athens: Sideris, 2010). Author of numerous chapters in international volumes (The Political Economy of Privatization, Verbaende und Verbandssysteme in Westeuropa, Republicanism in Theory and Practice, The New Balkans, among others) and articles in distinguished international 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, 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). In 2007-2008 he was the Constantine Karamanlis Professor of Hellenic and Southeastern European Studies at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA, and in 2009 he was a Senior Research Fellow at the European Institute, Hellenic Observatory, The London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. Spyridon N. Litsas is Assistant Professor of International Relations Theory at the Department of International and European Studies, University of Macedonia, Greece. Born in Chania, Crete in 1974, he studied Politics and European Studies (BA Hons) at the University of Central Lancashire (UK), and International Relations (Ph.D) at the University of Durham (UK). He is the author of the monograph War and Rationality: A Theoretical Analysis, Athens: Poiotita Publications, 2010. In addition, he has published in various scientific journals both in Greek and English and has participated in collective volumes about I.R. Theory and Strategic Analysis. He is a visiting Professor at the Joint Supreme War College of the Hellenic Army, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus, while he is a frequent guest -lecturer at the School of Information Analysis of the Hellenic Army and at the NATO Deployable Corps - H.Q. Thessaloniki. During 2006-2009 was a Research Fellow of the Institute of Defence Analysis (IAA). Last but not least, he is a frequent contributor to major Greek newspapers on international politics issues and I.R. Theory, mainly about the balance of power in the Eastern Mediterranean, European Politics, Islamic fundamentalism etc. Dimitrios V. Skiadas is Assistant Professor of European Governance at the Department of International and European Studies at the University of Macedonia, Greece. He was born in Athens, Greece, in 1973. He has studied Law at the University of Athens, Greece, (LL.B), and the University of Durham, UK, (M.Jur & Ph.D.), and has specialised on issues relating to European Union Law, Public Law, Budgetary Law, and Project Management. He has taught courses on European Union Law and other topics regarding his expertise at the University of Durham (Department of Law), the Hellenic Air Force Academy, the University of Athens (Interdepartmental Postgraduate Programme of the Department of Economics and the Department of Informatics and Telecommunications), and the University of Central Greece (Department of Regional Economic Development). His professional record includes the position of Secretary General for Commerce at the Ministry of Development, the position of Special Secretary of European Union and Management of European Programmes at the Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs, the position of Scientific Associate to the Vice President of the Special Permanent Committee of EU affairs at the Hellenic Parliament, as well as a Research Assistantship at the Athens University Institute of Social Insurance, Health and Social Assistance. In the private sector he has been active as Director at a Vocational Training Centre, and he has occupied senior posts in various firms. He is a member of various research organisations and think tanks, such as the European Law Institute at the University of Durham, the Institute for Democracy Constantinos Karamanlis, the Political Research Centre of the Department of Political Science and History at Panteion University, the Hellenic Association of Regional Scientists, etc. He has served as a member of the Education Committee of the Council of Ministers of the European Union, as member at the Greek Monitoring Team on the Lisbon Strategy and a member of the Monitoring Committee of the Community Support Framework as well as of various Operational Programmes in Greece. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Association of Fellows and Legal Scholars of the Centre for International Legal Studies, Salzburg (Austria). His publications include six books - among them the Theory of Public Expenditure: Institutions and Choices in Greece and the EU (in Greek), (Athens/Thessaloniki: Sakkoulas, 2011) and the European Court of Auditors: The financial conscience of the EU (London: Kogan Page, 2000) - several contributions to collective volumes and books - among them the Commentary to Art. 310-325 (Budgetary Provisions) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union in H. Smit, P. Herzog, Chr. Campbell, G. Zagel (ed.), Smit & Herzog on the Law of the European Union, (New Jersey: LexisNexis, 2011, Vol. 4, pp. 310-1 to 325-13) - and several articles in scientific journals, on subjects relating to the areas of his expertise, at national and international level. He is fluent in Greek (native language), English, French and Italian.
