Kyril Drezov

Biography

Kyril Drezov joined Keele University in 1996. He is founding member and co-chair of the internationally acclaimed Southeast Europe Unit (SEU). As a leading expert on Bulgarian, Macedonian and Balkan politics he has contributed extensively to the BBC World Service and Oxford Analytica and has advised international consultancies, banks, and governments. His publications include Kosovo: The Politics of Delusion Frank Cass, 2001 (together with B. Gokay and  M. Waller),  'Macedonian identity: an overview of the major claims' in The New Macedonian Question (ed. James Pettifer), Macmillan 1999 and 2001, ‘Hard Bargaining amongst Friends: An Overview of Contemporary Russian–Bulgarian Relations’ in Russian Analytical Digest No. 125, March 2013, and ‘Project 1917 and RT: The Russian Revolution in the Age of Facebook and Twitter’ in The Journal of Global Faultlines (Pluto Press, 2018).

He is co-chair of the Southeast Europe Unit.

Research and scholarship

• Communism and Post-Communism
• The Contemporary Politics of Eastern, Central and Southeastern Europe
• Balkan Politics and International Relations
• Bulgarian and Macedonian Politics
• Modernisation and Nationalism in Eastern Europe and the Balkans
• The Political Thought of Nikolay Danilevskiy (1822-1885)
• Traditional and Modern Panslavism
• Realism and Balance of Power in International Relations

Teaching

• Russian Politics and Society
• Balkan Politics and Society
• The European Union and Eastern Europe
• Regime Change in the Balkans
• Russia and Europe:  Hopes for Partnership, Legacy of Confrontation

Further information

Erasmus+

I have developed contacts and cooperation with the Politics and International Relations departments at Istanbul Şehir University, Istanbul, Turkey (visits in 2013 and 2015), Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey (2014), Georgian Technical University, Tbilisi, Georgia (2018), Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan (2018), Urgench State University, Urgench, Uzbekistan (2019), Hachatur Abovyan Armenian State Pedagogical University , Yerevan, Armenia (2019). In 2018-19, I drafted the SPIRE part of the Keele University KA 107 Erasmus+ bid for 2019-22.

Conference Papers:

January 2019 ‘Facts, Narratives and Myths in the Relations of Balkan Countries with Russia: With Focus on Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece’ at a conference on ‘Sources, tools and impact of external non-EU-engagement in Southeastern Europe’ at the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin;

October 2017 ‘Project 1917: The Russian Revolution in the age of Facebook’ at conference on ‘The Centenary of 1917: Year of Two Revolutions in Russia’, organised jointly by Keele University and EMAR (Easdale Foundation for Labour Research);

March 2015 ‘Mobilisation of Symbolic Resources in Russian-Bulgarian Relations’ at ‘Russia in the Balkans conference’, London School of Economics;

February 2015 ‘Bulgarians in Macedonia and Macedonians in Bulgaria - Do They Exist?’ LSEE Research on South Eastern Europe, London School of Economics;

September 2012 ‘Bulgaria and Russia since 1989: From Total Integration to Chance Encounters’ at Pushkin House, London (seminar organised jointly by British-Bulgarian Society & Great Britain-Russia Society);

November 2008 ‘Bulgaria 1944: Government Disarray, Soviet Infiltration, Communist Takeover’ at the interdisciplinary workshop ‘Stalinism and Europe’ (part of series ‘United Europe – Divided Memory’), organised by the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) in Vienna;

November 2003 ‘Bulgaria and Macedonia in Times of Transition: 1944-1948 and 1989-2001’ at 35th National Convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS) in Toronto.

Consultancy & Media:

• Oxford Analytica author since 1991 with over a hundred published analyses. Regular coverage of Bulgarian and Macedonian politics; occasional coverage of other Balkan, EU, East European, Russian and Eurasian topics.
• Contributions to BBC World Service since 1991; live interviews on BBC World News.
• Political Risk consulting on Bulgaria for Merrill Lynch (April 2000).
• Bulgaria briefing for East Staffordshire Borough Council (April 1998).
• Live interviews on Bulgarian National Radio, Radio Darik and Radio Fokus.
• Participation in Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Research Analysts) seminars since 1994 – mostly on Bulgaria and Macedonia, also on wider Balkans, EU Enlargement and Post-communist Right.
• Participation in a Cabinet Office seminar on the Western Balkans (May 2018) and subsequent invited written submission to ‘The Western Balkans inquiry’ of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament in London.
• ‘Divided Macedonia. The next Balkan conflict?’ in Strategic Comments (Vol. 5, Issue 5, June 1999) of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
• Research and consulting for the TV documentary ‘Macedonia: the Next Bosnia?’ Bedford Productions for NBC/USA, ABC/Australia (1994-1995).

PhD Supervision

I am able to supervise research students on the following topics:

Communism and post-Communism; Balkan politics and IR; Bulgarian, Macedonian and Southeast European politics

Please see my research and scholarship for more details about my area of expertise.

Further information is available about studying in SPIRE, including funding available for pursuing a doctoral research degree.