Research centres

Centre for European Politics

The Centre for European Politics (CEP) studies the processes, institutions and actors of European politics with a special emphasis on security issues and European Integration. We understand European politics as a complex and differentiated field in which interests of transnational institutions, corporations, states, regions and a plethora of non-state actors meet and clash with each other. We study these interactions from an interdisciplinary point of view that combines traditional approaches of European studies, security studies, political science and international relations while incorporating broader historical, social and cultural contexts.

Centre for Global Political Economy

The Centre for Global Political Economy studies the mutual entanglement of political and economic power in international relations, the understanding of which is crucial for strategic decision-making of both state and non-state actors in the contemporary globalized world. The centre thus explores the multilevel governance of various global regulatory regimes, and changing production and financial flows, including developmental aid and energy relations. Moreover, we decipher the resultant socioeconomic inequalities and power asymmetries inherent to them among and in the varieties of world regions, national economies, social groups, and also gender relations.

Centre for Governance of Emerging Technologies

The aim of the GET as a field of research is to explore the relationship between technology and international policy from an interdisciplinary perspective, from the theory of international relations, philosophy, and sociology to interaction with international law. Among the key research topics is cyber and space security, with an emphasis on planetary defense, asteroid mining, and the use of power lasers for a variety of space applications ranging from orbit cleaning to breakthrough interstellar travel projects. The Centre deals with activities ranging from basic theoretical research to policy-oriented work (e.g. the formulation of the emergence of an international security regime for the peaceful use of laser technology in space). Its members regularly inform the public in the media, organize public meetings and international workshops that combine technology development and political science, publish policy papers and/or act as experts in addition to carrying out diplomatic missions to the UN and other international organizations.

Centre for International Law

The CIL conducts research in various areas of International Law with the main emphasis being on human rights, international humanitarian law, international criminal law, the use of force, the fight against terrorism and the theory of international law. The results of the Centre's activities are both professional publications and policy-oriented studies. The studies should help the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic to formulate its legal position. These studies are also intended to provide information on international law to the public and the media.

Centre for the Study of Global Regions

The Centre for the Study of Global Regions (CSGR) consists of two research units: Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and the Asia Pacific (AP). While focusing primarily on their own area and issue specialization, the CSGR researchers study actors, institutions, and processes impacting regional politics, states, societies and communities. The Centre’s researchers do not subscribe to a single disciplinary tradition. Instead, they employ theories and methods developed within Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Economy, Political Sociology, Anthropology, Cultural Studies and related disciplines. This allows research projects carried out at the CSGR to explore different levels of regional politics, ranging from the dynamics of domestic political arenas to complex entanglements of regional actors with global political and economic structures. As it is aware of its own positionality as a Prague-based institution, critical reflection of Czech and European debates on the Middle East and Asia is an indivisible part of the Centre’s research agenda.