In the first of our series of coffee house conversations, Ivan Vejvoda speaks to Dimitar Bechev - IWM and Atlantic Council fellow, visiting researcher at Oxford and King's college and author of 2017's 'Rival Power: Russia's Influence in Southeast Europe' described in The Economist as 'The right author of the right book at the right time'.
In an in-depth conversation, Vejvoda and Bechev discuss the 30 year Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the nature of frozen conflicts, the geopolitics of energy and influence; and the prospects for positive change in the future.
Dimitar Bechev is on twitter @DimitarBechev and his most recent book is, Rival Power - Russia in Southeast Europe published by Yale University Press. He is Adjunct Professor if European Studies and International Relations at the University of Sofia and a 2020/21 Europe’s Futures Fellow at the IWM.
Ivan Vejvoda is Head of the Europe's Futures program at IWM where, in cooperation with leading European organisations and think tanks IWM and ERSTE Foundation have joined forces to tackle some of the most crucial topics: nexus of borders and migration, deterioration in rule of law and democracy and European Union’s enlargement prospects.