The Center for European Studies and the Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia are pleased to welcome Dr. Igor Guardiancich for a semester-long postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan’s Department of Political Science. Igor Guardiancich earned his PhD in Social and Political Sciences at the European University Institute in Florence. His doctoral dissertation and subsequent work are on the political economy of reforms in Central, East, and Southeast Europe as well as post-socialist and pan-European social policy. His most recent publications include articles in West European PoliticsEast European Politics & Societies, and International Social Security Review. His book, Pension Reforms in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe: From Post-Socialist Transition to the Global Financial Crisis, will be published in 2012 by Routledge.

During his residency at U-M, Dr. Guardiancich will teach one course in the Department of Political Science titled, "Political Economy of Transition in Europe." The course will offer students an introduction to the transition from central planning to a market economy and from totalitarianism to democracy as well as further developments in Eastern Europe. It will also cover Europeanization and EU enlargement, the financial crisis, and the inception of various socioeconomic policies. Guardiancich will give a lecture in the Conversations on Europe series titled, “Pension Policy in Central and East Europe: Reforms and Reversals,” on January 19, 2012.

The Postdoctoral Fellowship for European University Institute PhDs was introduced in 2011 to foster teaching and research on European integration. Applicants from any of the four EUI programs (Political and Social Sciences, Economics, History, and Law) are welcome to apply. While in residence in Ann Arbor, postdoctoral fellows teach one undergraduate course and pursue their research.