He holds a PhD thesis at St Antony's College, Oxford, in the field of Political Science and International Relations.

In August 2010, Bakoyannis announced to run for mayoral office as an independent candidate in the small town of Karpenisi in Evrytania, where his father had originally come from.

New Democracy decided not to challenge Bakoyannis with a candidate of its own,[6] though the party had expelled his mother Dora in May for voting in favor of the austerity measures proposed by the Papandreou government.

In a To Vima interview he strongly defended the bailout deal stating that "where we have come to after all the crimes that the Greek political system made over the past 30 years, we had no choice but the Memorandum."

He said that he wouldn't rule out joining the new Democratic Alliance party his mother had founded, and that "Greece needs suicidal governments ready to kill themselves to save the country.