Costa Georghiou 

Dr Costa Andre Georghiou
Faculty of Humanities
Department of Politics
Lecturer: International Politics

Biographical

After matriculating at Harrismith High School, Costa Andre Georghiou was sent, as a Rotary Exchange Student, to Pleasantville, New York, where he was awarded Honorary Citizenship. He completed his under-graduate studies and military service in the 1970s and then joined the diplomatic service to represent the RSA in the 1980s as Vice-Consul at the SA Consulate-General in Hong Kong. He later served as First Secretary in the 1990s at the SA Embassy in Athens, Greece, and as Counsellor at the SA Embassy in Seoul, South Korea from 1993 till 1997. Before his departure from the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1998, he held the position of Acting-Director of the UN Desk, dealing with the UNGA.

During his postings abroad he, on numerous occasions, had to liaise with the international press, address the public, appear on TV and radio programmes and prepare several ministerial speeches and media statements. He had to lobby foreign governments, aid agencies, NGOs and big business on various international and national issues.

In the 1990s he obtained a BA (Honours) degree in Political Science and International Politics, and an MA degree in International Politics from the University of Pretoria. The topic of his MA dissertation was: “The notion of society in world politics: A comparative analysis of the perspectives of Hedley Bull and John W Burton”. In 2010 Costa was awarded a doctorate in International Politics from the University of South Africa (UNISA) where he researched the work of Samuel Huntington.

He started his lecturing career in 1999 at Vista and later RAU universities. Presently he lectures Second year, Third year, Honours and Master’s students at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in the following subjects: International Political Theory (his speciality field), IPE, Methodology and Foreign Policy Analysis. He also lectures at MGI in Johannesburg and every year as a guest lecturer at the University of Pretoria to Masters students in Diplomacy.

In July 2003 Dr Georghiou presented a paper on: “The Impact of Globalisation on Cultural Diversity” at the 19th World Congress of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) in Durban. In 2009 he also participated in the 21st IPSA Conference held in Santiago, Chile. The title of his paper was: “Understanding a discontented world: The Huntington/Fukuyama debate”.  He has also chaired various panels at SAAPS and other conferences. He received a Roll of Merit award from Advocate George Bizos, SAHETI School, on 12 June 2011.

As a hobby Costa also writes poetry, a few of which have already been published in various local magazines. He plans to have his first anthology published in 2012. He is also an accomplished pianist and the leader of the “Stardust” jazz band which has performed throughout South Africa.