Professor Kevin Featherstone

Professor Kevin Featherstone

Emeritus Professor and Professorial Research Fellow in the Hellenic Observatory Centre, LSE

European Institute

Telephone
+44 (0)20 7955 6027
Room No
CBG.5.04
Office Hours
By email
Languages
English, French, Greek
Key Expertise
Political Science, Political Economy, European Union, Greece

About me

Kevin Featherstone is Emeritus Professor (European Institute) and Professorial Research Fellow in the Hellenic Observatory at LSE. He was Director of the Hellenic Observatory from 2002 to 2024.  He 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. He has received a number of honours: including,  'Grand Commander, Order of the Phoenix' of the Hellenic Republic (2021); honorary doctorate, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (2022); and Honorary Greek citizenship (2023).  He was the first foreign member of the National Council for Research and Technology (ESET) in Greece, serving from 2010-2013.  He served on an ad hoc committee for the reorganisation of the Greek government in 2010-11.  He has written extensively on modern Greek politics, and on the European Union.  In 2014, the European Parliament selected one of his books (‘The Road to Maastricht: Negotiating Economic and Monetary Union’, co-authored with Kenneth Dyson) as one of its ‘100 Books on Europe to Remember’. He has contributed regularly to Greek and international media on European and Greek politics.

 Check out Kevin Featherstone's page at the Social Science Encyclopedia.

Research interests

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.

Expertise Details

Political Science; Political Economy; European Union; Greece

Recent Press Listings

Kevin Featherstone wrote the OpEd Πρέπει η Αριστερά να μοιάζει με ανέκδοτο;, Kathimerini (1 December 2024)

Professor Kevin Featherstone gave an interview on the forthcoming UK elections at the Spanish state broadcaster, TVE. (watch from 14.49 onwards)

Kevin Featherstone wrote the OpEd Συστημική αστοχία και απογοήτευση, Kathimerini (28 May 2024)

Kevin Featherstone was interviewed about the upcoming British elections Κέβιν Φέδερστοουν: Τι θα άλλαζε για την Ελλάδα με μια κυβέρνηση Στάρμερ, Kathimerini (24 May 2024)

Kevin Featherstone has been quoted in the article Greece’s Prime Minister Wants His Nation to be the Comeback Story of the Decade by Adam Rasmi, Time, 25 April 2024

Kevin Featherstone wrote the article Κασσελάκης εν Λονδίνω – μια αποτίμηση, Kathimerini (26 February 2024) 

Kevin Featherstone wrote the article 'Ηρθε η ώρα τα ελληνικά πανεπιστήμια να αποκτήσουν νέες φιλοδοξίες', Kathimerini (15 January 2024) 

Kevin Featherstone wrote the OpED 'Ο Σούπερμαν που «κρύβει μέσα του» ο Ρίσι Σούνακ', Kathimerini (3 December 2023) 

Kevin Featherstone wrote the OpEd 'H άρση της ασυλίας δεν είναι πραγματικά λύση', Kathimerini (5 November 2023)

Kevin Featherstone wrote the article 'Πρέπει να χάσει η Αριστερά;', Kathimerini (25 September 2023)

Kevin Featherstone commented on the recent British Museum debacle in the article 'Κλέβοντας το κύρος του Βρετανικού', Kathimerini (4 September 2023)

Kevin Featherstone gave an interview on the recent Greek elections, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the government and SYRIZA's defeat to Dimitris Doulgeridis for the newspaper Ta Nea: «Το χάρισμα και οι μεταρρυθμίσεις δεν είναι αντιθετικοί όροι» (9 July 2023)

Kevin Featherstone commented on the Greek elections in the article Elecciones en Grecia -Mitsotakis busca la mayoría absoluta en una repetición electoral con pocas opciones para Tsipras, RTVE ( 25 June 2023)

Kevin Featherstone commented on the Greek elections in the article ‘An even bigger margin’: Mitsotakis set to win majority in Greek election', the Guardian (24 June 2023)

Kevin Featherstone commented on the Greek elections in the article Εκλογές 2023: Η Ελλάδα που ξέραμε και η Ελλάδα του σήμερα, Kathimerini (21 May 2023)

Kevin Featherstone gave an interview on BREXIT to the Dutch Newspaper 'Reformatorisch Dagblad' (4 April 2023).

Kevin Featherstone gave the interview 'Κέβιν Φέδερστοουν: Η Ελλάδα πρέπει να κοιτάξει πέρα από συναισθήματα, υπερβολές και λαϊκισμό' to Antonis Fourlis, Editor-in-Chief of HuffPost Greece. (18 March 2023) 

Kevin Featherstone wrote the article "Χρειάζεται ισχυρό Μαξίμου", Kathimerini (15 January 2023)

Kevin Featherstone shared his toughts on former King Constantinos and his role in the Greek history in 'Τέως βασιλιάς Κωνσταντίνος: Πέντε Έλληνες και ξένοι ιστορικοί γράφουν για τον ρόλο του στην ελληνική Ιστορία', Kathimerini Newspaper (14 January 2023)

2022

Kevin Featherstone shared his thoughts about Greece ahead of 2023 along with another eleven distinguished British Philhellenes, leading personalities from the fields of letters, arts, politics and journalism at Ta Nea Weekend .(30 December 2022) 

Kevin Featherstone gave an interview to the reporter George Kouvaras for the news programme "Sto Kentro" (aired on 6 December 2022, ERT 1) and focused on the Observatory, populism, Greece's institutional weaknesses and economy and Britain’s involvement in the war in Ukraine. You can watch the interview here (after 00:21:00).

Kevin Featherstone has taken part in a new interview with Ta Nea, published on 5 November 2022. The interview is titled 'Προσβολή για τον Ελληνα είναι να υπονοήσεις ότι είναι πολιτικά αφελής', and can be found in Greek here.

Kevin Featherstone writes in the Sunday Edition of Kathimerini (30 October 2022) reflecting on the question of the decline of the western world. “Do we really live through the decline of the West?  Can the Western world stand up to the challenges of internal corruption, inadequate leaderships, military provocations by authoritarian regimes? Is the West really declining? Or is the world of liberal democracies more resilient than it seems?”. Link

The Boris story: Ending like it started. Professor Kevin Featherstone has written an article published in eKathimerini, discussing the resignation of Boris Johnson as UK Prime Minister. You can read it in both English and Greek online. (15 July 2022)

The Oxford Handbook of Modern Greek Politics, edited by Professors Kevin Featherstone and Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos was reviewed by Markos Karasarinis, deputy editor of the Books section, 'To Vima' newspaper. You can read the review here and here. (30 April 2021) This review was re-published at in.gr and you can read it here. (8 May 2021)

2020

Professor Kevin Featherstone gave an interview to George Fintikakis for liberal.gr on Turkey’s aggression and EU's response. The interview is titled Κ.Φέδερστοουν για πώληση όπλων στην Τουρκία: «Δεν δίνεις στο μεθυσμένο ένα ακόμη ποτό», liberal.gr (21 October 2020)

Professor Kevin Featherstone wrote the article 'Erdogan should bring out the best in us', Kathimerini Newspaper and was re-published in Newspaper Ahval (26 August 2020)

Professor Kevin Featherstone wrote an article 'Η Ευρώπη πρέπει να πάρει σαφή θέση απέναντι στην Τουρκία', Kathimerini Newspaper (23 August 2020) 

Professor Kevin Featherstone gave an interview to Liberal on Turkey’s aggression towards Greece and Cyprus and the need of EU's concerted action to curb Erdoğan’s excesses. The intervie is titled  'Κέβιν Φέδερστοουν της «κίνησης των 24»*: Η Ευρώπη θα πληρώσει ακριβά τον Ερντογάν', Liberal (19 August 2020)

Professor Kevin Featherstone was mentioned in the article Στήριξη προς Ελλάδα και Κύπρο, Kathimerini (18 August 2020)

Professor Kevin Featherstone was mentioned in the article Coronavirus: Greece's handling of outbreak is a surprising success story, so far, The Independent (29 April 2020)

Professor Kevin Featherstone was mentioned in the article Greece Has ‘Defied the Odds’ in the Pandemic, The New York Times (28 April 2020)

Professor Kevin Featherstone wrote an article Ο κορωνοϊός προσγειώνει τον νεοφιλελευθερισμό, Kathimerini (29 March 2020)

Professor Kevin Featherstone wrote an article Το πείραμα του Μπόρις Τζόνσον, Kathimerini (9 February 2020)

Professor Kevin Featherstone's and Professor Dimitri Papadimitriou's book ΕΛΛΗΝΕΣ ΠΡΩΘΥΠΟΥΡΓ ΟΙ Το Παράδοξο της Εξουσίας  is reviewed in the article  Οταν στο Μαξίμου υποδέχθηκε τον Σημίτη ο κηπουρός by Eleftheria Kollia, Protagon.gr (11 January 2020)

2019

Professor Kevin Featherstone gave an interview to FT Chinese, (10 December 2019)

Professor Kevin Featherstone wrote an article Η τελευταία μπλόφα της Βρετανίας;, Kathimerini (1 September 2019)

Professor Kevin Featherstone gave an interview Kevin Featherstone: Ο καθηγητής του LSE και πρώην σύμβουλος του Γιώργου Παπανδρέου απαντά γιατί η Ελλάδα βυθίστηκε στην κρίση και πώς θα βγει από αυτή, Fortune Greece Magazine ( 3 June 2019) 

Professor Kevin Featherstone wrote an article Η Ελλάδα, η Ευρώπη και η κάθαρση που έμεινε στα χαρτιά, Kathimerini (26 May 2019) 

Professor Kevin Featherstone was mentioned in the article Europeanen zien de EU weer een beetje zitten, by Pieternel Gruppen, Throw (18 May 2019)

Professor Kevin Featherstone wrote an article Όλοι προσποιούνται: Η Αθήνα παραπλανά, οι Βρυξέλλες δεν ρωτούν, liberal.gr (21 March 2019)

Professor Kevin Featherstonegave an interview No-deal Brexit 'would be a failure of the UK political system' - Brexit χωρίς συμφωνία θα αποτελούσε αποτυχία του βρετανικού πολιτικού συστήματος, Athens News Agency - Macedonian News Agency (23 February 2019)

Professor Kevin Featherstone wrote an article Ο γόρδιος δεσμός του Ηνωμένου Βασιλείου, Kathimerini (20 January 2019)

For all press articles and interviews given by Professor Kevin Featherstone visit HO in the News.

Selected Publications

Featherstone, Kevin and Alogoskoufis, George, eds (2021) Greece and the Euro: From Crisis to Recovery, Hellenic Observatory, July 2021


Featherstone, Kevin and Sotiropoulos, Dimitri A., eds. (2020) The Oxford Handbook on Greek Politics,  Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.


Featherstone, Kevin and Papadimitriou, Dimitris, (2019) ΕΛΛΗΝΕΣ ΠΡΩΘΥΠΟΥΡΓΟΙ Το Παράδοξο της Εξουσίας (Prime Ministers in Greece: The Paradox of Power), Diametros. 


Featherstone, K. and Papadimitriou, Dimitris  (2017) Greece: a crisis in two level governance. In: Dinan, Desmond, Nugent, Neill and Paterson, William E., (eds.) The European Union in Crisis. The European Union series. Palgrave Macmillan, London, UK, pp. 233-252. 


Featherstone, K. & Papadimitriou, D., (2015) Prime Ministers in Greece: The Paradox of Power, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.


Featherstone, K.,(2014) Europe in Modern Greek History, C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd, London, UK.


Featherstone, Kevin, Papadimitriou, Dimitris, Mamarelis, Argyris and Niarchos, Greorgios (2011) The last Ottomans: the Muslim minority of western Thrace during the axis occupation and the Greek civil war 1941-49. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK. 


Featherstone, Kevin and Papadimitriou, Dimitris (2008) The limits of Europeanization: reform capacity and policy conflict in GreecePalgrave studies in European Union politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK.


Featherstone, Kevin, ed. (2005) Politics and policy in Greece: the challenge of modernisation. Routledge, London. Also translated in Greek Πολιτική Στην Ελλάδα Η πρόκληση του εκσυγχρονισμού, Okto Publishing, Athens, Greece. 


Featherstone, Kevin and Radaelli, Claudio M., eds. (2003) The politics of Europeanization. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.


Featherstone, Kevin and Kazamias, George, eds. (2001) Europeanization and the southern periphery. Frank Cass, London, UK.


Featherstone, Kevin and Dyson, Kenneth (1999) The road to Maastricht: negotiating economic and monetary union. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.


Featherstone, Kevin and Ginsberg, Roy H. (1996) The United States and the European Union in the 1990s: partners in transition. Macmillan Press Ltd, London, UK. 


Featherstone, Kevin and Ifantis Kostas, eds. (1996) Greece in a Changing Europe: Between European Integration and Balkan Disintegration.  Manchester University Press, Manchester, UK.


Featherstone, Kevin (1988) Socialist parties and European integration: a comparative history. Manchester University Press, Manchester, UK. 


Featherstone, Kevin and Katsoudas, Dimitrios K., eds. (1987) Political change in Greece: before and after the colonels. Croom Helm, London, UK.