Political Scientist Kevin Featherstone Granted Greek Citizenship

British political scientist Kevin Featherstone was granted honorary Greek citizenship on Tuesday for his work on contemporary Greece and the European Union.

He took the oath before the Secretary General of Citizenship Athanasios Balerbas in a ceremony at the prime minister’s office – Maximos Mansion – attended by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Featherstone is Eleftherios Venizelos Professor in Contemporary Greek Studies and Professor in European Politics in the European Institute at the London School of Economics, where he is also Director of the Hellenic Observatory.

The Hellenic Observatory is internationally recognized as one of the premier research centers on contemporary Greece and Cyprus. It engages in a range of activities, including developing and supporting academic and policy-related research; organization of conferences, seminars and workshops; academic exchange through visiting fellowships and internships; as well as teaching at the graduate level through LSE’s European Institute.

Featherstone has held visiting positions at the University of Minnesota, New York University, Harvard University and the European University Institute (Firenze). Before LSE, he held academic posts at the Universities of Stirling and Bradford.

Kevin Featherstone focuses on the EU and contemporary Greece

He was the first foreign member of Greece’s National Council for Research and Technology (ESET) in Greece, serving from 2010-2013. In 2013 he was made Commander, Order of the Phoenix by the Greek President and in 2021 he was given the award of Grand Commander, Order of the Phoenix.

In 2014, the European Parliament selected one of his books (co-authored with Kenneth Dyson) as one of its “100 Books on Europe to Remember.” He has contributed regularly to international media on European and Greek politics.

Kevin Featherstone’s research falls within comparative politics, public policy, and political economy. His focus has been on the European Union and on contemporary Greece, both separately and in combination.

He has been especially interested in the creation of economic and monetary union and euro-zone governance; the politics of europeanization; institutions and reform capacity in Greece; core executive politics in Greece; and, latterly, the discursive politics of euroscepticism in different national contexts.