Early Life
Born at Valandovo, Ivanov finished primary and secondary school in his hometown of Valandovo. He lived there until the age of 27, then moved to the Macedonian capital Skopje, which has since been his permanent residence.
His professional career kicked off in 1988, when he became an editor at Macedonian Radio and Television, the national broadcasting station. He later taught political theory and political philosophy at the Law Faculty in Skopje. In 1999, he became a visiting professor for the Southeast European programme at the University of Athens in Greece.
A series of academic appointments followed, including at universities in Bologna and Sarajevo. Sts. Cyril and Methodius University named him associate professor in 1992 and full professor in 2008. The same year, he became president of the Council for Accreditation in Higher Education in Macedonia.
Ivanov has been politically active since the Yugoslav era, when he pushed for political pluralism and a market economy. He is the founder and honorary president of the Macedonian Political Science Association and one of the founding members of the Institute for Democracy Societas Civilis, a leading analytical centre in the Republic of Macedonia.
Until 1990 he was an activist in the League of Socialist Youth of Yugoslavia and a member of the last presidency of the organization, where he worked on reforming the political system and promoting political plurality and free market economy.
Ivanov is considered a leading expert on civil society, specializing in political management.
Read more about this topic: Gjorge Ivanov
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