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Political Science Research Group

Bild: IOS/neverflash.com

The Political Science Research Group at the IOS conducts contemporary social science research that is theoretically informed and methodologically sound, and at the same time enriched by the extensive regional knowledge of its academic members. Currently, the scholars in the Research Group work in different research fields and on various topics ranging from Comparative Politics and Conflict Studies to the intersections of International Relations and International Law. Presently, the Group has a strong geographical focus on the states and regions of the post-Soviet space.

The Group’s research projects and third-party funded projects fall under the IOS research field “Institutionalization, De-Institutionalization and Re-Institutionalization”.

  • Since 2015, members of the Research Group have been conducting research on “Frozen and Unfrozen Conflicts”, i.e. on territorial conflicts and the legal and political challenges surrounding non-recognized states on the territory of the former Yugoslavia but especially of the former Soviet Union.
  • In 2019, the interdisciplinary project “Between Conflict and Cooperation: Politics of International Law in the Post-Soviet Space” (PolVR, 01UC1901), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), was launched.
  • Since 2020, the IOS’ research in the field of Comparative Politics has focused on two topics: executive policy and political institutions in authoritarian regimes, and digital policy in nondemocratic regimes.
  • In 2022, the Research Group was joined by the IOS subprojects from the new BMBF-funded research network “Cooperation and Conflict in Eastern Europe: The Consequences of the Reconfiguration of Political, Economic, and Social Spaces since the End of the Cold War” (KonKoop, 01UG2209B).

With its wide-ranging and multifaceted activities, the Political Science Research Group at IOS contributes to the reintegration of the social sciences into the context of East European studies as area studies, as has been called for by the German Council of Science and Humanities. Since 2015, the Political Science Research Group has developed new projects with young researchers as well as established political scientists in Germany and abroad, while at the same time building multidisciplinary networks and working relationships.

Since 2018, the Political Science Research Group has also been involved in the editorial work of a total of ten Russland-Analysen and Ukraine-Analysen (Russia and Ukraine Analyses) per year. The Länder-Analysen (Country Analytical Digests) regularly provide open access expert analysis on current political, economic, social, and cultural developments in East-Central Europe and the post-Soviet region.

Contact Person

Dr. Cindy Wittke

Political Science Research Group
Head of the Research Group

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