Florian Bieber is a Professor of Southeast European History and Politics and director of the Centre for Southeast European Studies at the University of Graz, Austria. He studied at Trinity College (USA), the University of Vienna and Central European University, and received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Vienna. Between 2001 and 2006 he worked in Belgrade (Serbia) and Sarajevo (Bosnia & Herzegovina) for the European Centre for Minority Issues. He has taught at Central European University, the University of Kent, Cornell University, the University of Bologna and the University of Sarajevo. His research interest is the political and social transformation of Southeastern Europe, including questions of democratization, nationalism and minority rights. His research has been published in leading journals and also contributed to policy studies, as a researcher, as well as coordinator of the European network of researchers and policy analyst on the Western Balkans BiEPAG, which he coordinates. His analyses on the EU and the Western Balkans have been published in Foreign Affairs, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Frankfurter Rundschau, Die Presse, as well as providing analysis for leading European and regional media outlets including N1 TV, The Economist, Financial Times, Deutschlandfun, New York Times.