Dr Vedran Dzihic is currently a Senior Researcher at the Austrian Institute for International Affairs, co-director of the Center for Advanced Studies- South Eastern Europe (CAS SEE), and senior lecturer at the Institute for Political Sciences at the University of Vienna as well as the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. He is one of co-founders of the Institute for Democratic Engagement Southeast Europe (IDESE) in Belgrade. Previously, he has been the Austrian Marshall Plan fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the School of Advanced International Studies of John Hopkins University in Washington DC. Vedran Dzihic is a member of the  Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group, an advisory board member of the European Forum Alpbach as well as a member of the managing board of the community TV-station in Vienna, OKTO.  Vedran Dzihic is also the author of several books, numerous book chapters, scholarly articles, policy papers, and op-eds on various topics. Vedran Dzihic’s research interests are related  primarily to democracy and transition processes as well as de-democratisation, illiberalism and authoritarianism, new nationalism, European integration, and civil society. His regional focus lies on Eastern and Southeastern Europe and the USA.