Department of Russian and East European StudiesInstitute of International Studies

Faculty of Social SciencesCharles University in Prague

Department of Russian and East European Studies - Past and Present

• Founded in 1994 as part of the Institute of International Studies.

• Members of the former dissolved Institute for Central and East European History within Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences formed the core of the new department to advance the study of the territory of the former Soviet Bloc based on Area Studies, a rather new field of study in the Czech context.

• It became clear that the area east of the Czech borders would maintain an extraordinarily important position in the Czech foreign policy, and, consequently, there would be a steady demand for education in this particular field of study.

Department of Russian and East European Studies - Past and Present

• Over the years, the department was successful in pursuing the study of:oRussia; o Eastern Europe – Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova; oCentral Europe – Poland, Hungary, Slovakia;oBaltic countries – Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia

(overreaching partially to Finland).

Department of Russian and East European Studies - Past and Present

• The scope of study was further expanded to cover: o Caucasus – Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaidjan,

border regions of Russia: Chechnya, Dagestan…; o Central Asia – Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan,

Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tadjikistan; o Balkan peninsula – former Yugoslavia, Romania,

Bulgaria, Greece, Albania (overreaching partially to Turkey)

Department of Russian and East European Studies - Past and Present

Nowadays:• interdisciplinary research of modern history,

contemporary politics, international relations, partially economics and culture of the studied regions;

• investigating a wide range of research grant projects commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense and other government agencies, corporate sector, NGOs (both in the Czech Republic and abroad).

Department of Russian and East European Studies - Past and Present

• Our graduates are particularly strong in critical assessment of the developments in the studied territories relying on deep background knowledge and analytical skills.

• They are to be found working for government (Office of the President of the Czech Republic, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of the Interior), international organizations (OSCE, IOM), large business corporations (IBM, Škodaexport), media (Czech TV, Czech Press Agency, Czech Radio), or major NGOs (Člověk v tísni, Charitas).

• Some continue pursuing their academic careers as well.

Internal StaffAss. Prof. Jiří VYKOUKAL, Ph.D.• Director of the Institute of International

Studies• Guarantor of B.A. programme• Guarantor of English M.A. programmes

(PRAREAS)• Field of research: East-Central Europe –

Poland, Hungary; Modern History; Historiography; Nationalism

Internal Staff

Ass. Prof. Michal KUBÁT, Ph.D.• Head of the Department of Russian

and East European Studies• Field of research: East-Central

Europe – Poland; Political Systems; Theories of Democratic and Non-democratic Regimes; Theories of Political Opposition

Internal Staff

Ass. Prof. Luboš ŠVEC, Ph.D.• Guarantor of Czech M.A. programme• Field of research: East-Central Europe –

Baltic Countries; Modern History of Central and Eastern Europe; Political Systems and Nationalism

Internal Staff

Kateřina KRÁLOVÁ, Ph.D.• Faculty Vice-Dean for International

Relations• Leader of the Balkan studies’ team• Field of research: The Balkans –

Greece; Modern History of the Balkans; German-Greek Relations; Jews in Greece; Greek Minority in the Czech Republic; Authoritarian Regimes in the Balkans

Internal Staff

Slavomír HORÁK, Ph.D.• Secretary of the Department of

Russian and East European Studies• Field of research: Central Asia;

Afghanistan; Iran; Islam, Ideology; Energy Politics in the Caspian; Informal Political Institutions; Modern History of Central Asia

Monographs• ŠVEC, Luboš: Perestrojka, pobaltské

republiky a Československo 1988-1991 [Perestroika, Baltic republics and Czechoslovakia 1988-1991]. Dokořán, Praha, 2014, 392 s. ISBN 978-80-7363-564-0.

• REIMAN, Michal a kol.: Zrod velmoci. Dějiny Sovětského svazu 1917-1945 [The Birth of the Power. The History the Soviet Union 1917-1945]. Karolinum, Praha, 2013, 584 s. ISBN 978-80-246-2266-8.

Monographs• SOULEIMANOV, Emil: Understanding

Ethnopolitical Conflict. Karabakh, South Ossetia and Abchazia Wars Reconsidered. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, 272 s. ISBN 978-11-3728-0220.

• TEJCHMAN, Miroslav: Balkán ve válce a v revoluci : 1939-1945 [The Balkans in the war and revolution: 1939-1945]. Praha: Karolinum, 2008, 768 s., ISBN 978-80-246-1374-1

Monographs• KUBÁT, Michal a kol. Politické a ústavní

systémy zemí středovýchodní Evropy [Political and constitutional systems of East-Central Europe]. Praha: Eurolex Bohemia, 2004. ISBN 8086432920.

• VYKOUKAL, Jiří - LITERA, Bohuslav - TEJCHMAN, Miroslav. Východ: vznik, vývoj a rozpad sovětského bloku 1944-1989 [The East: the establishment, development, and decline of the Soviet bloc in Europe 1944-1989]. Praha: Libri, 2000, 80-85983-82-6.

Monographs• HORÁK, Slavomír. Rusko a Střední Asie

po rozpadu SSSR [Russia and Central Asia after USSR dissolution]. Praha: Karolinum, 2008. 226 s. ISBN 978-80-246-1472-4.

• IRMANOVÁ, Eva: Maďarsko a versailleský mírový systém [Hungary and the Versailles System]. Ústí nad Labem, Albis International, 2002, 409 s. ISBN 80-86067-62-9.

Studia Territorialia

• Leading peer-reviewed academic journal in the Czech Republic covering Area Studies and Modern and Contemporary History

Examples of current Ph.D. projects• Russian internal migration and its obstacles (Jakub Andrle)• The influence of the Turkish political culture on the right-wing political

parties of Albania and Kosovo (Kamil Pikal)• Science about science in Poland and Czechoslovakia 1962-1989 (Michaela

Kůželová)• National policy towards Romania's Hungarian minority and Bulgaria's

ethnic Turks during the regimes of Nicolae Ceauşescu and Todor Živkov (Filip Šisler)

• Transylvanian regional identity of Romanians, Hungarians and Germans and its development and transformation after 1989 (Jiří Kocian)

• The image of Soviet Union in the Czechoslovak cultural left in the 1920s and 1930s (Kateřina Šimová)

• Social inequality in Estonia (Olga Lukešová)• Influence of Putin´s politics in the Russian society and culture (Francesca

Mazzali)

Foreign relations

• Erasmus• Erasmus Mundus (together with the School of Slavonic

and East European Studies (SSEES), UCL London)• CEEPUS• Aktion• Mobility fund• Bilateral agreements:

o Inter-faculty agreements;o Inter-university agreements;o Inter-governmental agreements

T. G. Masaryk Library of Social SciencesPraha - Jinonice

Other activities

Other activities

Other activities

Other activities

Other activities

Thank you for your attention!

Filip Šisler, M.A.Department of Russian and East European Studies

Institute of International StudiesFaculty of Social Sciences

Charles University in PragueU Kříže 661/8

158 00, Praha 5 – Jinonicesisler@fsv.cuni.cz