Tanja A. Börzel is professor of political science and holds the Chair for European Integration at the Otto-Suhr-Institute for Political Science, Freie Universität Berlin. She earned her PhD from the European University Institute, Florence, Italy, and taught at Humboldt University zu Berlin, University of Heidelberg, and Harvard University. Börzel is director of the Cluster of Excellence Contestations of the Liberal Script (SCRIPTS). She is also the head of the Berlin Center for European Studies. Her most recent publications include The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Regionalism (Oxford University Press 2016, co-edited with Thomas Risse), The Oxford Handbook of Governance and Areas of Limited Statehood (Oxford University Press 2018, co-edited with Thomas Risse and Anke Draude), Effective Governance Under Anarchy: Institutions, Legitimacy, and Social Trust in Areas of Limited Statehood, with Thomas Risse (Cambridge University Press 2021), and Why Noncompliance. The Politics of Law in the European Union (Cornell University Press 2021).

Anastasia Mgaloblishvili is a Doctoral Researcher at the Berlin Graduate School of Global and Transregional Studies. She researches how political elites in Georgia and Serbia use the EU integration process to further their authoritarian practices. Anastasia is also a Rethink.CEE fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and has previously worked in different civil society organizations and political movements in Georgia.

Arzu Yorkan is a senior researcher working on energy policy (comparative energy politics, security, geopolitics, market integration, law, etc.), sustainability (decarbonisation/energy transition, climate change, environmental protection), governance, international cooperation (concept of cooperation, theories of international cooperation, problems of international cooperation, negotiations, bargaining, etc.), Europeanisation, and research methods (qualitative and quantitative, and digital tools). Her works were published by academia, business magazines and think tanks, whereas her scholarly articles and books are underway.

She regularly attends international conferences and workshops. Besides her long-term research experience, she has worked for private companies and think tanks. Yorkan graduated from business administration, took a master's degree in international relations and holds a PhD in political science.