A.B. Spendzharova

A.B. Spendzharova is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Maastricht University, affiliated with the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. She specializes in EU regulatory governance, comparative political economy, and research methodologies. Her work focuses on post-2008 financial reforms, policy preferences of EU member states, and institutional dynamics in regulatory frameworks.

• Education: Ph.D. in Political Science (UNC Chapel Hill, 2007), M.A. (UNC Chapel Hill, 2004), B.A. (American University in Bulgaria, 2002)
• Professional Experience: Post-doctoral researcher at the Institute for Advanced Studies Vienna (2008), long-term teaching roles at Maastricht University and UNC Chapel Hill

Her research interests include regulatory governance in the EU and CEE regions, policy-making processes, and the interplay between institutional design and policy outcomes. Recent work examines the green transition in CEE states through EU sustainable finance mechanisms and the role of trust in EU financial supervision networks. She has pioneered studies on the EU’s influence in shadow banking regulation and the ideational foundations of European political economy.

Publications span journals like Journal of European Public Policy, Journal of Common Market Studies, and Politics and Governance, with a co-edited book on European Political Economy (Oxford University Press, 2023). Her 2011 Teaching Excellence Award reflects her pedagogical contributions in qualitative methods, EU policy analysis, and comparative politics instruction.

Teaching focuses on bridging theory and practice through courses on EU budget politics, research design, and comparative political economy. She actively engages in interdisciplinary research teams and policy-oriented studies on migration, EU external policies, and citizen perceptions of the EU’s global role.