Ivan Krastev
Biographic Data
| ID | 761083 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ivan Krastev |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ivan |
| FAMILY NAME | Krastev |
| SIGNATURE | KRASTEV I |
| AFFILIATIONS | Centre for Liberal Strategies |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 34 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 337 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 34 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1997 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
The Fear of Shrinking Numbers. Democracy, Demography and the East-West Divide in Europe / L’angoisse du déclin. Démocratie, démographie et clivage Est-Ouest en Europe
Gleb Pavlovsky. In memory of homo politicus
Глеб Олегович Павловский ( марта -февраля
Thirty Years After: The Dialectics of Confrontation
As is often the case, personal changes eventually manifested themselves at the macro level as well, for example, in international relations. The United States and the USSR, which had been trading recriminations in the ideological domain for decades, did not reconcile with the fall of communism in our country. Taken aback by the unexpected collapse of the Soviet Union, the two sides spent a couple of years in a state of indifferent equilibrium, bu…
Victimhood Olympics
In January 2020, the Russian-language bimonthly “Russia in Global Affairs” published an article on “memory politics” and related conflicts, following a roundtable hosted by the magazine (Rossiya, 2020). To our amazement, the discussion caused a very keen reaction, especially in Europe. Our modest publication was immediately dubbed as nearly a forge of Kremlin ideas regarding “memory wars,” which, of course, is flattering, but, alas, is not true. …
Light That Failed: Why the West Is Losing the Fight for Democracy
Why did the West, after winning the Cold War, lose its political balance?In the early 1990s, hopes for the eastward spread of liberal democracy were high. And yet the transformation of Eastern European countries gave rise to a bitter repudiation of liberalism itself, not only there but also back in the heartland of the West. In this brilliant work of political psychology, Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes argue that the supposed end of history turn…
The Fear of Shrinking Numbers
The fear of being outnumbered is deeply rooted in politics. This fear is particularly strong in democratic politics, where it means being outvoted. This article argues that the way in which the shrinking ethnocultural majorities of today will try to preserve their power and identity in the face of population decline and increasing migration will go far toward defining the future character of European democracy, and it could affect the survival of…
Est-ce encore demain
Trois idées reçues sur les élections européennes
Une étude du European Council on Foreign Relations conduite dans quatorze pays d’Europe montre qu’en dépit de divisions, il n’existe pas de polarisation de l’électorat en tribus irréconciliables ; que la question de l’émigration est aussi importante que celle de l’immigration ; que le sentiment européen est important malgré une volonté de renverser le statu quo
Light That Failed: A Reckoning
Populismes à l'Est: Une Angoisse Démographique
Imitation and Its Discontents
For countries emerging from communism, the post-1989 imperative to "be like the West" has generated discontent and even a "return of the repressed," as the region feels old nationalist stirrings and new demographic pressures. Further contributing to illiberalism in the region is a largely unspoken preoccupation with demographic collapse—resulting from aging populations, low birth rates, and massive outmigration—which manifests as a fear that the …
After Europe
In this provocative book, renowned public intellectual Ivan Krastev reflects on the future of the European Union—and its potential lack of a future. With far-right nationalist parties on the rise across the continent and the United Kingdom planning for Brexit, the European Union is in disarray and plagued by doubts as never before. Krastev includes chapters devoted to Europe's major problems (especially the political destabilization sparked by th…
The Refugee Crisis and the Return of the East-West Divide in Europe
Of the many crises that Europe faces today, it is the migration crisis that most profoundly defines the changing nature of European politics. It is also a turning point in central and east European societies’ attitudes to the European Union, and it signals the return of the east-west divide in Europe. The article argues that what Brussels describes as a lack of solidarity is actually a clash of solidarities: national, ethnic, and religious solida…
Une sensation de déjà-vu: Entretien avec Ivan Krastev
Les populations d'Europe centrale et orientale doutent du destin de l'Europe, se méfient des élites et ont peur des migrants. Ces sentiments, liés à l'histoire singulière de ces pays, peuvent être changés si les Etats assument leurs politiques
Rêves utopiques d'une vie au-delà des frontières
EnglishMass migrations are the revolution of our century, giving way to a counter-revolution that jeopardizes the European project. The refugee crisis has indeed provoked a clash of solidarities between Eastern and Western European countries: national, ethnic and religious solidarities chaffing against our duties as human beings. francaisLes migrations massives sont la revolution de notre xxie siecle, donnant lieu a une contre-revolution qui mena…
L’autre Europe face aux migrants
What’s Wrong with East-Central Europe: Liberalism’s Failure to Deliver
In argument with James Dawson and Sean Hanley, the author insists that the current state of liberal democracy in Central and Eastern Europe cannot be explained simply by the absence of more value-based democratic politics and the opportunism of liberal elites. In the author’s view, what we see in Central and Eastern Europe is not the crisis of democratization but a genuine crisis of liberal democracy caused by a major economic crisis, publics’ ba…
The Unraveling of the Post-1989 Order
This article argues that the unraveling of the post–Cold War liberal order is manifested by the West's declining influence in international politics; the waning attraction of liberal democracy; and the maturing tensions within liberal democratic regimes. This unraveling renders problematic the European project of trying to extend democracy beyond the nation-state—a project that has enhanced the appeal of illiberal democracy, defined by majoritari…
From Politics to Protest
From 2009 through 2014, political protests erupted in more than 70 countries around the world, in both democracies and non-democracies. In most cases, the protests were not led by a political party or a trade union, and the protesters themselves were openly anti-institutional, mistrustful of both the market and the state, and lacked a coherent ideology. In this article, the author claims that though these “movements of mistrust” do not claim powe…
European Disintegration: A Fraying Union
Once we acknowledge that disintegration of the EU is a “thinkable” option, it becomes important to grasp what “the collapse of the Union” would mean. How can the “disintegration” of the Union be defined or conceptualized? Would the departure of just one country from the eurozone or from the EU itself amount to “disintegration”? Contrary to the expectations of some democratic theorists, the EU will not collapse because of the “democratic deficit” …
Putinism Under Siege: An Autopsy of Managed Democracy
Although they have quieted down as quickly as they flared up, the clamorous protests that followed the dishonest Russian legislative elections in December 2011 have essentially destroyed Putin’s regime, the infamous “managed democracy.” In order to unravel the enigma of “managed democracy,” we need to answer a few simple questions: What is the political function of rigged elections for a government that has never really pretended to be a democrac…
The Balkans and the EU after Mladic
Paradoxes of the New Authoritarianism
In this article, which is adapted from the seventh annual Seymour Martin Lipset Lecture on Democracy in the World, Ivan Krastev addresses three main questions: 1) Why are authoritarian regimes surviving in the age of democratization? 2) Why did political science fail to anticipate the resilience of these regimes? and 3) Why it is so difficult to resist contemporary authoritarianism
Twenty Years of Postcommunism: Deepening Dissatisfaction
Twenty Years of PostcommunismDeepening Dissatisfaction Ivan Krastev (bio) It was "the best of years." Reflecting on the historical significance of Central Europe's revolutions, Robert Cooper wrote that "the year 1989 divides the past from the future almost as clearly as the Berlin Wall divided the East from the West."1 The revolutions of '89 turned the will of the people as expressed in free and fair elections into the only source of legitimate g…
Reading Russia: The Rules of Survival
Reading RussiaThe Rules of Survival Ivan Krastev (bio) In an attempt to explain the Russian Revolution to Lady Ottoline Morrell, British philosopher Bertrand Russell once remarked that Bolshevik despotism, appalling though it was, seemed the right sort of government for Russia. "If you ask yourself how Fyodor Dostoevsky's characters should be governed, you will understand," was his not-so-subtle point. In explaining the recent resurgence of autho…
Is East-Central Europe Backsliding? The Strange Death of the Liberal Consensus
Populism is no longer merely a feature of certain parties or other political actors. It is the new condition of the political in Europe. The result is a brand of politics where the main structural conflict is not between left and right or between reformers and conservatives. The real clash is between elites that are becoming ever more suspicious of democracy and angry publics that are becoming ever more hostile to liberalism. The paradox of East-…
Imitation and Its Discontents
For countries emerging from communism, the post-1989 imperative to "be like the West" has generated discontent and even a "return of the repressed," as the region feels old nationalist stirrings and new demographic pressures. Further contributing to illiberalism in the region is a largely unspoken preoccupation with demographic collapse—resulting from aging populations, low birth rates, and massive outmigration—which manifests as a fear that the …
Paradoxes of the New Authoritarianism
In this article, which is adapted from the seventh annual Seymour Martin Lipset Lecture on Democracy in the World, Ivan Krastev addresses three main questions: 1) Why are authoritarian regimes surviving in the age of democratization? 2) Why did political science fail to anticipate the resilience of these regimes? and 3) Why it is so difficult to resist contemporary authoritarianism
The Balkans: Democracy Without Choices
The Balkans today stillappear to be an explosive mixture of weak states, nonstates, and present or future protectorates. In reports to policy makers, the region is described as a place where borders (when defined) are soft, identities are hard, reform policies have failed, and the future is cloudy. While we do not know just how many of Southeastern Europe's de facto states are functioning, and to what extent, we do know that today they are all de…
Putinism Under Siege: An Autopsy of Managed Democracy
Although they have quieted down as quickly as they flared up, the clamorous protests that followed the dishonest Russian legislative elections in December 2011 have essentially destroyed Putin’s regime, the infamous “managed democracy.” In order to unravel the enigma of “managed democracy,” we need to answer a few simple questions: What is the political function of rigged elections for a government that has never really pretended to be a democrac…
What’s Wrong with East-Central Europe: Liberalism’s Failure to Deliver
In argument with James Dawson and Sean Hanley, the author insists that the current state of liberal democracy in Central and Eastern Europe cannot be explained simply by the absence of more value-based democratic politics and the opportunism of liberal elites. In the author’s view, what we see in Central and Eastern Europe is not the crisis of democratization but a genuine crisis of liberal democracy caused by a major economic crisis, publics’ ba…
New Threats to Freedom: Democracyâ s â Doublesâ
A potent threat to freedom is posed by the rise of democracyâ s â doublesâ â regimes that claim to be democratic and may look like democracies, but which rule like autocracies. Liberal democracy today is challenged on one side by Hugo Chávezâ s revolutionary Venezuela and on the other by Vladimir Putinâ s antirevolutionary Russia. The rise of Chávezâ s â direct democracyâ and Russiaâ s â directed democracyâ poses a clear challenge to the politica…
The Unraveling of the Post-1989 Order
This article argues that the unraveling of the post–Cold War liberal order is manifested by the West's declining influence in international politics; the waning attraction of liberal democracy; and the maturing tensions within liberal democratic regimes. This unraveling renders problematic the European project of trying to extend democracy beyond the nation-state—a project that has enhanced the appeal of illiberal democracy, defined by majoritari…
From Politics to Protest
From 2009 through 2014, political protests erupted in more than 70 countries around the world, in both democracies and non-democracies. In most cases, the protests were not led by a political party or a trade union, and the protesters themselves were openly anti-institutional, mistrustful of both the market and the state, and lacked a coherent ideology. In this article, the author claims that though these “movements of mistrust” do not claim powe…
The Anti-American Century
The article claims that anti-Americanism is a "master framework" with broad and flexible appeal, and that any serious attempt to analyze the phenomenon must encompass an understanding not only of its various sources but also of the variety of purposes for which anti-Americanism is used as a political resource. Anti-Americanism and the local responses to it are driven to a significant extent not by concerns about America and its policies but by th…
Twenty Years of Postcommunism: Deepening Dissatisfaction
Twenty Years of PostcommunismDeepening Dissatisfaction Ivan Krastev (bio) It was "the best of years." Reflecting on the historical significance of Central Europe's revolutions, Robert Cooper wrote that "the year 1989 divides the past from the future almost as clearly as the Berlin Wall divided the East from the West."1 The revolutions of '89 turned the will of the people as expressed in free and fair elections into the only source of legitimate g…
The Refugee Crisis and the Return of the East-West Divide in Europe
Of the many crises that Europe faces today, it is the migration crisis that most profoundly defines the changing nature of European politics. It is also a turning point in central and east European societies’ attitudes to the European Union, and it signals the return of the east-west divide in Europe. The article argues that what Brussels describes as a lack of solidarity is actually a clash of solidarities: national, ethnic, and religious solida…
European Disintegration: A Fraying Union
Once we acknowledge that disintegration of the EU is a “thinkable” option, it becomes important to grasp what “the collapse of the Union” would mean. How can the “disintegration” of the Union be defined or conceptualized? Would the departure of just one country from the eurozone or from the EU itself amount to “disintegration”? Contrary to the expectations of some democratic theorists, the EU will not collapse because of the “democratic deficit” …
The Fear of Shrinking Numbers
The fear of being outnumbered is deeply rooted in politics. This fear is particularly strong in democratic politics, where it means being outvoted. This article argues that the way in which the shrinking ethnocultural majorities of today will try to preserve their power and identity in the face of population decline and increasing migration will go far toward defining the future character of European democracy, and it could affect the survival of…
Populismes à l'Est: Une Angoisse Démographique
Reading Russia: The Rules of Survival
Reading RussiaThe Rules of Survival Ivan Krastev (bio) In an attempt to explain the Russian Revolution to Lady Ottoline Morrell, British philosopher Bertrand Russell once remarked that Bolshevik despotism, appalling though it was, seemed the right sort of government for Russia. "If you ask yourself how Fyodor Dostoevsky's characters should be governed, you will understand," was his not-so-subtle point. In explaining the recent resurgence of autho…
The Liberal Estate
Party structure and party perspectives in Bulgaria
Anti‐party sentiment is a substantial element in the Bulgarian political culture. The structure of the new party system is thus an independent factor in the process of democratic consolidation in Bulgaria and the party space, as it develops, is likely to reproduce its founding structure. Although the Bulgarian party system was designed in accordance with a consensual view of democracy, there has been a tendency towards the development of a majori…
Party structure and party perspectives in Bulgaria
Anti‐party sentiment is a substantial element in the Bulgarian political culture. The structure of the new party system is thus an independent factor in the process of democratic consolidation in Bulgaria and the party space, as it develops, is likely to reproduce its founding structure. Although the Bulgarian party system was designed in accordance with a consensual view of democracy, there has been a tendency towards the development of a majori…
The Liberal Estate
Think tanks: Making and faking influence
The think tank explosion is a remarkable feature of the reform in Central and Eastern Europe. The birth rate of independent policy research institutes in post‐Communist countries is higher than in most other places in the world. Their media visibility is impressive and their charm irresistible. There are a growing number of studies on their ideas and influence and a general feeling that post‐Communist think tanks are a powerful illustration of th…
How to control corruption in Southeastern Europe: The case of Bulgaria
We do not dream of the future anymore, we’re scared of it.”
The Balkans: Democracy Without Choices
The Balkans today stillappear to be an explosive mixture of weak states, nonstates, and present or future protectorates. In reports to policy makers, the region is described as a place where borders (when defined) are soft, identities are hard, reform policies have failed, and the future is cloudy. While we do not know just how many of Southeastern Europe's de facto states are functioning, and to what extent, we do know that today they are all de…
The Anti-American Century
The article claims that anti-Americanism is a "master framework" with broad and flexible appeal, and that any serious attempt to analyze the phenomenon must encompass an understanding not only of its various sources but also of the variety of purposes for which anti-Americanism is used as a political resource. Anti-Americanism and the local responses to it are driven to a significant extent not by concerns about America and its policies but by th…
New Threats to Freedom: Democracyâ s â Doublesâ
A potent threat to freedom is posed by the rise of democracyâ s â doublesâ â regimes that claim to be democratic and may look like democracies, but which rule like autocracies. Liberal democracy today is challenged on one side by Hugo Chávezâ s revolutionary Venezuela and on the other by Vladimir Putinâ s antirevolutionary Russia. The rise of Chávezâ s â direct democracyâ and Russiaâ s â directed democracyâ poses a clear challenge to the politica…
Is East-Central Europe Backsliding? The Strange Death of the Liberal Consensus
Populism is no longer merely a feature of certain parties or other political actors. It is the new condition of the political in Europe. The result is a brand of politics where the main structural conflict is not between left and right or between reformers and conservatives. The real clash is between elites that are becoming ever more suspicious of democracy and angry publics that are becoming ever more hostile to liberalism. The paradox of East-…
Reading Russia: The Rules of Survival
Reading RussiaThe Rules of Survival Ivan Krastev (bio) In an attempt to explain the Russian Revolution to Lady Ottoline Morrell, British philosopher Bertrand Russell once remarked that Bolshevik despotism, appalling though it was, seemed the right sort of government for Russia. "If you ask yourself how Fyodor Dostoevsky's characters should be governed, you will understand," was his not-so-subtle point. In explaining the recent resurgence of autho…
Twenty Years of Postcommunism: Deepening Dissatisfaction
Twenty Years of PostcommunismDeepening Dissatisfaction Ivan Krastev (bio) It was "the best of years." Reflecting on the historical significance of Central Europe's revolutions, Robert Cooper wrote that "the year 1989 divides the past from the future almost as clearly as the Berlin Wall divided the East from the West."1 The revolutions of '89 turned the will of the people as expressed in free and fair elections into the only source of legitimate g…
The Balkans and the EU after Mladic
Paradoxes of the New Authoritarianism
In this article, which is adapted from the seventh annual Seymour Martin Lipset Lecture on Democracy in the World, Ivan Krastev addresses three main questions: 1) Why are authoritarian regimes surviving in the age of democratization? 2) Why did political science fail to anticipate the resilience of these regimes? and 3) Why it is so difficult to resist contemporary authoritarianism
European Disintegration: A Fraying Union
Once we acknowledge that disintegration of the EU is a “thinkable” option, it becomes important to grasp what “the collapse of the Union” would mean. How can the “disintegration” of the Union be defined or conceptualized? Would the departure of just one country from the eurozone or from the EU itself amount to “disintegration”? Contrary to the expectations of some democratic theorists, the EU will not collapse because of the “democratic deficit” …
Putinism Under Siege: An Autopsy of Managed Democracy
Although they have quieted down as quickly as they flared up, the clamorous protests that followed the dishonest Russian legislative elections in December 2011 have essentially destroyed Putin’s regime, the infamous “managed democracy.” In order to unravel the enigma of “managed democracy,” we need to answer a few simple questions: What is the political function of rigged elections for a government that has never really pretended to be a democrac…
From Politics to Protest
From 2009 through 2014, political protests erupted in more than 70 countries around the world, in both democracies and non-democracies. In most cases, the protests were not led by a political party or a trade union, and the protesters themselves were openly anti-institutional, mistrustful of both the market and the state, and lacked a coherent ideology. In this article, the author claims that though these “movements of mistrust” do not claim powe…
L’autre Europe face aux migrants
What’s Wrong with East-Central Europe: Liberalism’s Failure to Deliver
In argument with James Dawson and Sean Hanley, the author insists that the current state of liberal democracy in Central and Eastern Europe cannot be explained simply by the absence of more value-based democratic politics and the opportunism of liberal elites. In the author’s view, what we see in Central and Eastern Europe is not the crisis of democratization but a genuine crisis of liberal democracy caused by a major economic crisis, publics’ ba…
The Unraveling of the Post-1989 Order
This article argues that the unraveling of the post–Cold War liberal order is manifested by the West's declining influence in international politics; the waning attraction of liberal democracy; and the maturing tensions within liberal democratic regimes. This unraveling renders problematic the European project of trying to extend democracy beyond the nation-state—a project that has enhanced the appeal of illiberal democracy, defined by majoritari…
After Europe
In this provocative book, renowned public intellectual Ivan Krastev reflects on the future of the European Union—and its potential lack of a future. With far-right nationalist parties on the rise across the continent and the United Kingdom planning for Brexit, the European Union is in disarray and plagued by doubts as never before. Krastev includes chapters devoted to Europe's major problems (especially the political destabilization sparked by th…
The Refugee Crisis and the Return of the East-West Divide in Europe
Of the many crises that Europe faces today, it is the migration crisis that most profoundly defines the changing nature of European politics. It is also a turning point in central and east European societies’ attitudes to the European Union, and it signals the return of the east-west divide in Europe. The article argues that what Brussels describes as a lack of solidarity is actually a clash of solidarities: national, ethnic, and religious solida…
Une sensation de déjà-vu: Entretien avec Ivan Krastev
Les populations d'Europe centrale et orientale doutent du destin de l'Europe, se méfient des élites et ont peur des migrants. Ces sentiments, liés à l'histoire singulière de ces pays, peuvent être changés si les Etats assument leurs politiques
Rêves utopiques d'une vie au-delà des frontières
EnglishMass migrations are the revolution of our century, giving way to a counter-revolution that jeopardizes the European project. The refugee crisis has indeed provoked a clash of solidarities between Eastern and Western European countries: national, ethnic and religious solidarities chaffing against our duties as human beings. francaisLes migrations massives sont la revolution de notre xxie siecle, donnant lieu a une contre-revolution qui mena…
Imitation and Its Discontents
For countries emerging from communism, the post-1989 imperative to "be like the West" has generated discontent and even a "return of the repressed," as the region feels old nationalist stirrings and new demographic pressures. Further contributing to illiberalism in the region is a largely unspoken preoccupation with demographic collapse—resulting from aging populations, low birth rates, and massive outmigration—which manifests as a fear that the …
Trois idées reçues sur les élections européennes
Une étude du European Council on Foreign Relations conduite dans quatorze pays d’Europe montre qu’en dépit de divisions, il n’existe pas de polarisation de l’électorat en tribus irréconciliables ; que la question de l’émigration est aussi importante que celle de l’immigration ; que le sentiment européen est important malgré une volonté de renverser le statu quo
Political science (27 works) · Law (22 works) · Law (19 works) · Sociology (18 works) · Political economy (17 works) · Politics (17 works) · Democracy (13 works) · Economics (13 works) · Development economics (8 works) · Philosophy (8 works)