Department of International Relations and European Studies (EN)

• doc. Mats Rickard Braun, Ph.D.
  - Head of Department
  

  mats.braun@mup.cz

  Education & Work Experience

  • Named Associate Professor in political science – Södertörn University, Stockholm, Stockholm 1 November 2017.
  • Named Associate Professor in territorial studies – Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague 1 March 2017.
  • 2003–2008: Postgraduate studies in Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University Prague, dissertation defended: 30.6.2008,
  • 2002: Master of Political Science, Södertörn University College, Stockholm, Sweden

  Involvement in Other Institutions

  • Since 2017: Senior Lecturer, Södertörn University, Sweden
  • Spring 2016: Lecturer, Dalarna University, Sweden
  • Fall 2015: Visiting Scholar - Cornell Institute for European Studies, Ithaca, US
  • 2005–2014: Senior Research Fellow, Institute of International Relations, Prague
  • 2010–2013 and 2013–2016: Member of the Executive Council of the Central and East European International Studies Association (CEEISA)
  • 2006–2013: Lecturer, the Anglo-American University in Prague
  • 2004–2007: Lecturer, Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Prague
  • 2007–2014: Editor of Perspectives – Review of International Affairs

  Expertise

  • European integration; the institutional structure of the EU; international relations of the environment; norms diffusion; socialization, subregional integration

  Major Publications and Projects

  • Braun, M. (2019) Postfunctionalism, Identity and the Visegrad Group, Journal of Common Market Studies (JCMS), Forthcoming, published online - DOI: 10.1111/jcms.1299
  • Braun, M. (2019) The Czech Republic’s approach to the EU 2030 climate and energy framework, Environmental Politics, Vol. 28(6), pp. 1105-1123, DOI: 10.1080/09644016.2019.1625139
  • Braun, M., Gromilova, A., Avdic, A and G. Ozel Volfova (2017) ‘The EU’s Normative Impact on Its Neighbourhood’. The Central European Journal of International and Security Studies, 11(2).
  • Braun, M. (ed.) (2016) The Diffusion of EU Norms: the Challenge of the Domestic Context. Prague: Metropolitan University Press.
  • Braun, M. (2014) Europeanization of Environmental Policy in the New Europe: Beyond Conditionality. Farnham: Ashgate.
  • Braun, M. (2014) ‘EU Climate Norms in East-Central Europe’. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 52(3), pp. 445-460.
  • Beneš, V. and Braun, M. (2014) ‘An ever-closer eurozone and its consequences for differentiated integration in Europe’. In. Steven Blocksman (ed.). Differentiated Integration in Europe: from the inside looking out, pp. 12-25, Brussels: CEPS. 
• Mgr. Šárka Kolmašová, Ph.D.
  - Deputy Head of Department
  

  sarka.kolmasova@mup.cz

  Education & Work Experience

  • PhD in International Relations and European Studies; Metropolitan University Prague and Institute of International Relations
  • Specialization in Humanitarian Military Interventions and the Concept of the Responsibility to Protect

  Involvement in Other Institutions

  • 2014 – now: Member of the Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution Commission; International Peace Research Association (IPRA)
  • 2010 – 2016: Research Fellow; Institute of International Relations, Prague

  Expertise

  • Military Interventions
  • Responsibility to Protect
  • Human Rights in International Politics
  • Security Studies

  Major Publications and Projects

  • Kolmasova, S. (2019) Competing Norms and Strategic Visions: A Critical Appraisal of V4 Security Potential, Europe-Asia Studies, 71(2), pp. 225-248.
  • Kolmas, M. and Kolmasova S. (2019) A ‘pivot’ that never existed: America’s Asian strategy under Obama and Trump, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 32(1), pp. 31-79.
  • Kolmasova, S. and Krulisova K. (2018) Legitimizing Military Action through “Rape-as-a-Weapon” Discourse in Libya: Critical Feminist Analysis, Politics & Gender, 15(1), pp. 130-150.
  • 2016-2018 Researcher of the Standard Project “Anatomy of Revisionism and Its Impact on (Sub-) Regional Institutionalisations and Alliances”, grant no. 16-02288S, Czech Science Foundation.
• Mitchell Belfer, Ph.D.
  

  mitchell.belfer@mup.cz

  Education & Work Experience

  • Doctoral Studies (2006) International Relations Theory, Alliance Formation and Disintegration
  • Masters of Public Policy and Public Administration (2001), Third Party Intervention
  • Security Researcher on issues of the Arab Gulf, terrorism, counter-terrorism and small states in the Arab Gulf, Middle East and Caucasus

  Involvement in Other Institutions

  • President, Euro-Gulf Information Centre (EGIC), Rome, Italy
  • Editor in Chief, Central European Journal of International and Security Studies (CEJISS)
  • Steering Committee Member, Global Institute of Cybersecurity Technologies
  • Editorial Board Member, New Perspectives, Institute of International Relations, Prague
  • Fellow, Centre for Policy Studies, London, UK
  • Lecturer, NATO International School of Azerbaijan (NISA)
  • University Teacher, The Victoria University of Manchester, UK

  Expertise

  • Alliance Theory
  • Small States in Regional and International Security
  • Geopolitics in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia

  Major Publications and Projects

  • Small State, Dangerous Region: A Strategic Assessment of Bahrain, Peter Lang Publishing, Frankfurt, Germany, 2014.
  • ‘Gaza’s Tangentopoli,’ Revista de Investigaciones Politicas y Sociolgicas, 11:4, 2012, pp. 55-76.
  • ‘Iran’s Bahraini Ambitions,’ The Wall Street Journal, 06 October 2011, p. 15.
• Ing. Vít Beneš, Ph.D.
  

  vit.benes@mup.cz

  Education & Work Experience

  • Ph.D. in International Relations, University of Economics, Prague
  • Master degree (Ing.), University of Economics, Prague

  Involvement in Other Institutions

  • Institute of International Relations Prague, researcher, editor-in-chief, journal Mezinárodní vztahy
  • Institut für Politische Wissenschaft, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, external lecturer
  • CERGE-EI Prague, external lecturer

  Expertise

  • political and institutional aspects of European integration, theories of European integration, methodology of political science research

  Major Publications and Projects

  • Beneš, Vít – Harnisch, Sebastian (2015): Role Theory in Symbolic Interactionism: Czech Republic, Germany and the EU. Cooperation and Conflict, Vol. 50, No. 1, s. 146-165.
  • Beneš, Vít (2016): Evropský rozměr české zahraniční politiky. In: Michal Kořan a kol.: Česká zahraniční politika v roce 2015: Analýza ÚMV. Praha: Ústav mezinárodních vztahů, 43–66.
  • "Czech EU Policy in the Light of the Role Theory". Postdoctoral project of the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic No. P408/12/P905.
• Mgr. Kateřina Březinová, Ph.D.
  

  katerina.brezinova@mup.cz

  Education & Work Experience

  • Ph.D. in History and Latin American Studies at Charles University in Prague.
  • El Colegio de México. Mexico. Department of International Studies. Diploma in international relations.
  • Institute of Latin American Studies. University of Texas, Austin, USA. Master’s programme in cultural anthropology & regional studies in Latin America.
  • Instituto Universitario de Investigación Ortega y Gasset, Spain:  postgraduate  programme  “Máster en América Latina Contemporánea”.

  Involvement in Other Institutions

  • 2007- now: “Transculturalidad, mestizaje y mundialización en la Época Contemporánea” at the Universidad Complutense, Madrid, I +D project of the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Innovation, Spain. Position: Research fellow.
  • 1997- now: European Union – Research and expertise. Within a number of EU projects in the developing countries: The Russian Federation, Mexico, Brazil. Focus on minority rights, diversity policies; international migration. Position: Researcher and key expert
  • 1999 – 2006: Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain. Position: Associate professor
  • 1998-1999: El Colegio de México, Mexico. Position: Professor-Research Fellow
  • 2011: Member of Latin American Studies Association,professional association for individuals and institutions engaged in the study of Latin America.

  Expertise

  • International relations with a territorial specialization in the Americas;
  • Latin America, Mexico, Brazil, USA;
  • International migration;

  Major Publications and Projects

  • Březinová, K: El imaginario chicano. La iconografía civil y política de los mexicanos en Estados Unidos de América 1965-2000. Monograph based on a research analyzing U.S. Mexican population’s identity politics. Upcoming by Charles University Press, Karolinum, 2014
  • Březinová, K: Turbines and Weapons for Latin America: Czechoslovak documentary film propaganda in the Cold War Context 1948-1989, in Cejiss 7:3 2013: Central European Journal of Security Studies. ISSN: 1802-548X Part of an ongoing research project on Czechoslovakia’s political and cultural engagements in Latin America in the second half of the 20th century.
  • Březinová, K.: Disrupt Thought and Destabilize Vision. Toward the representation of the Yanomami between art and anthropology in Fernandez del Campo, E., Riviere, H. (eds.): “The Ark of Babel. Artistic Theory and Practice in a Transcultural Perspective”. Madrid: ABADA Press, 2013.
• prof. PhDr. RNDr. Nikola Hynek,
  M.A., PgDip Res, Ph.D.
  

  nikola.hynek@mup.cz

  Education & Work Experience

  • 2013: Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, Associate Professor (doc. - Docent), Habilitation in Theory of Politics
  • 2014: 2008-2011 University of Bradford, United Kingdom, Ph.D. in Security Studies and International Politics - Doctor of Philosophy
  • 9/2012-10/2012: Australian National University (ANU) - Research Stay at the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy
  • 9/2008 – 9/2009: Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies (SIWPS), Columbia University in the City of New York, U.S.A., Position: Visiting Research Scholar
  • 1/2008 – 1/2009: The London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom, the BIOS Centre for the Study of Life Sciences and Society, Position:  Visiting Research Fellow
  • 9/2008-10/2008: Ritsumeikan University, Japan – “Visiting Research Fellow”, Faculty of International Relations, & Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), research stay connected to Japanese Human Security and Peacebuilding: Strategies, Issues and Implementation
  • 5/2007 – 5/2010: University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom, Department of Politics and International Relations; Position: Honorary Research Assistant
  • 4/2006-5/2006: Carleton University, Canada – “Visiting Research Fellow”, Department of Political Science, & Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), Canada, research stay connected to Canada’s New Secur

  Involvement in Other Institutions

  • From 9/2007 onwards: The Metropolitan University Prague, Czech Republic, Department of International Relations and European Studies, Position: Lecturer, since 2013: Associate Professor
  • From 9/2008 onwards: Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, School of Social Sciences, Department of IR, Graduate Programme in Security Studies, Position:  Lecturer, since 2013: Associate Professor
  • 1/2008-2/2013: Institute of International Relations (IIR) at the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Prague, Czech Republic, Position: 2008-2010: Research Fellow; 2010-2013:  Founder and Research Leader of the Centre for International Security (CIS IIR)
  • 9/2006 – 9/2008: Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, Department of Political Science (Strategic and Security Program) and Department of International Relations and European Studies, Position: Lecturer

  Expertise

  • Strategic Studies (Deterrence theory and strategy, arms control; missile defence; strategic culture)
  • Conflict Resolution and Security Institutions (global and regional security institutions, Euro-Atlantic security architecture, theories of, conflict resolution)
  • Theories and Methodologies of International Politics (realism, liberalism, institutionalism, constructivism, post-structuralism)
  • New Security Agendas (human and environmental security, peace support operations and peace-building, humanitarianism in arms-control/disarmament)
  • New Modes of Governance (new governmental rationalities, non-state actors and transnational networks in security and arms-control/disarmament issues, new typification of knowledge/power in security domain, political use of risk analysis, biopolitics, diplomatic heteronomies).
  • Foreign and Security Policy Analysis (regional focus: USA, EU, Russia, Canada, Japan, Afghanistan, Czech Republic, Poland)

  Major Publications and Projects

  • Hynek, Nik and Bátora, Jozef (2014): Fringe Players and the Diplomatic Order: The “New” Heteronomy. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0230363939  (Series: Studies in Diplomacy and International Relations, 224pp).
  • Hynek, Nik (2012): Human Security as Statecraft: Structural Conditions, Articulations, and  Unintended Consequences. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0415693721 (Series: Critical Security Studies, 256pp).
  • Hynek, Nik (2012): “Domopolitics of Japanese Human Security.” Security Dialogue, Vol. 43, No. 2, pp. 119-137. ISSN 0967-0106 (impact factor: 1.612).
  • Hynek, Nik (2012): “Japan's Return to the Chequebook? From Military Peace Support to Human Security Appropriation”, International Peacekeeping, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 62-76. ISSN 1353-3312 (impact factor: 0,449).
  • 2012-2014: Reconceptualisation of Deterrence Theory: Organisational Logics and Links to Missile Defence (Three-year Research Grant no. P408/12/P970 awarded by the Czech Science Foundation, € 36,000); ); Contribution: Principal (Sole) Holder of the Grant
• Marko Stojić, Ph.D.
  

  marko.stojic@mup.cz

  Education & Work Experience

  • PhD in Contemporary European Studies, School of Law, Politics and Sociology, University of Sussex, UK
  • MA in International Relations and European Studies, Department of International Relations and European Studies, Central European University, Hungary

  Involvement in Other Institutions

  • Lecturer, Department of International Relations and European Studies, Masaryk University, Brno
  • Lecturer, Department of International and Economic Relations, University of New York in Prague
  • Research Fellow, Europeum Institute for European Politics, Prague

  Expertise

  • European integration, EU enlargement, political parties in the Western Balkans, party-based Euroscepticism

  Major Publications and Projects

  • 'Party responses to the EU in the Western Balkans: Transformation, opposition or defiance?’, Palgrave Macmillan (2017).
  • 'Between core and peripheral politics: Opposing Europe in the Western Balkans', Europe-Asia Studies, 2017, 69/5, p. 728-753.
  • 'Transformation or defiance: The impact of the European People’s Party on Serbian and Croatia parties', Czech Journal of Political Science, 2015/2, p. 147-167.
  • 'Ideological families and party attitudes toward the EU in Serbia and Croatia', In EU Enlargement: Current challenges and strategic choices, PIE Peter Lang, ed. Laursen, F. (2013).
  • 'From deep-seated animosity to principled disagreement: A comparative analysis of party-based Euroscepticism in Serbia', In Charting the path from intervention to integration ‘Europe and the Post-Yugoslav Space’, Ashgate, ed. Radeljić, B. (2013).
  • 'Between Europhobia and Europhilia: Party and popular attitudes towards membership of the European Union in Serbia and Croatia', Perspectives on European Politics and Society, 2006/7(3), p. 312-335.
• Ing. Břetislav Tureček
  

  bretislav.turecek@mup.cz

  Education & Work Experience

  • 2016– - PhD studies in cultural anthropology, Palacký University, Olomouc
  • 1988–1993 - Technical University of Transportation, Žilina, (Czecho)Slovakia

  Involvement in Other Institutions

  • 2013– - Permanent contributor for Lidové noviny newspaper, Czech Radio and Czech TV
  • 2008–2013: Permanent correspondent of the Czech Radio in the Middle East, Jerusalem
  • 2003–2007: Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Western Bohemia, Plzeň
  • Member of the Academic Society of Alois Musil

  Expertise

  • Modern history, society and political development of the Middle East

  Major Publications and Projects

  • Mezi mýty a minarety (Between the Myths and Minarets, Jan Rovenský a kol., Filosofia 2018)
  • Blízký východ nad propastí (The Middle East on the Verge of Abyss, Knižní klub 2016)
  • Stíny minaretů (The Shadows of Minarets, Ondřej Beránek, Bronislav Ostřanský, eds., Academia 2016)
  • Labyrintem Íránu (Through Labyrinth of Iran, Knižní Klub 2013)
  • Nesvatá válka o Svatou zemi (Unholy War over the Holy Land, Knižní klub 2011, 2. edition Universum 2018), Egon Erwin Kisch Award for extraordinary non-fiction books)
  • Světla a stíny islámu (Lights and Shadows of Islam, Knižní klub, 2007, 2. edition 2017)

External Academics