Ústav mezinárodních vztahů

Czechia Direct Democracy: From the Shadows to the Limelight
Jan Kovář, Petr Kratochvíl and Zdeněk Sychra contributed the chapter "Czechia Direct Democracy: From the Shadows to the Limelight" into the edited publication "Direct Democracy in the EU: The Myth of a Citizens’ Union" published by CEPS, Brussels and Rowman & Littlefield International. The book is part of the Erasmus+'s 'Towards a Citizens’ Union' project and is the product of collaboration with 20 renowned think tanks from the European Policy Institutes Network (EPIN).

TEPSA Brief “Euro or no Euro, that is the question”
Let us introduce to you new TEPSA brief: “Euro or no Euro, that is the question”, written by our Senior Researcher Petr Kratochvíl and Zdeněk Sychra, Assistant Professor at the Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.

Two important summits of president Trump and nuclear disarmament expectations
The IIR is presenting a policy brief focusing on debates of president Trump with North Korean and Russian leaders. Is it possible to strengthen mutual trust and cooperation? How will the security attitude of USA towards North Korea change if the denuclearisation of Korean Peninsula comes real? Read the policy brief written by Miroslav Tuma, Centre for International Law, IIR.

Foreing Policy Analysis: German Foreign Policy Toward Russia
New article in Foreign Policy Analysis by Jakub Eberle and Vladimír Handl is focused on the change of German foreign policy towards Russia since the Russia's aggression against Ukraine and annexation of Crimea in 2014.

A Czech Arctic strategy? No longer a crazy idea
The IIR is publishing a policy brief on the possible Czech Arctic strategy written by Mary Thompson-Jones, speaker of the 10th International Symposium: Czech Foreign Policy. 

Rudolf Fürst attended the conference "Chinese investments in Europe: Comparing perceptions across Western and Central Europe"

Navigating Hybrid Political Order: UNIFIL II in South Lebanon
Jan Daniel in his chapter in a report from the annual ASPR „State of Peacebuilding“ conference provides a case study on how UN peacebuilding mandates are being implemented to fit realities on the ground. Focusing on the example of UNIFIL peacekeeping mission, he outlines several practices which help the mission to stay accepted in the region and navigate complex local political and social realities.

Foreign Terrorist Fighters and International Law
The phenomenon of foreign fighting is not new. On the other hand, the article by Veronika Bílková is. Read more about her piece in the Groningen Journal of International Law.

The IS and Attacks on the Oil and Gas Sector in Iraq
Head of the Centre for Energy Policy is author of article published by the Central European Journal of International and Security Studies focusing on the attitude of the global Islamist terrorist group the Islamic State (IS) with regard to terrorism, specifically targeting oil and gas sectors as a political instrument of its strategy in the Middle East and North Africa.

Academic Article: Balancing against Threats
If you find some more mathematics desperately needed in the Czech social sciences, take a look at the recent article by our colleague and Head of the Centre for European Security, Matus Halas, in journal Advances in Complex Systems. The most surprising result of his simulations of the international relations system is a victory of balancing against threats strategy originally proposed by Stephen Walt. Players using this strategy won the Prisoner’s Dilemma tournament in a highly competitive environment even without being too generous as regards cooperation with others. However, they managed to maintain good relations with a tiny group of pre-selected actors---guardians of cooperation. Read more in the article "Balancing against Threats in Interactions Determined by Distance and Overall Gains".