Ústav mezinárodních vztahů

The Pontis Foundation: Partly Disrupting the Development Discourse Through Partnership
New article by Tomáš Profant was published online in Forum for Development Studies. The article analyses the hierarchising and sanctifying effects of the development discourse. First, it presents this discourse using secondary sources and then it applies critical discourse analysis to several texts and interviews to analyse whether the Slovak non-governmental development organization (NGDO) the Pontis Foundation follows the development discourse in terms of sanctifying development and hierarchising cultures.

Otto Pick's 90th Birthday
Professor Otto Pick is celebrating his 90th birthday this week. We would like to wish him all the best and remind you of his fruitful journey. But how can you describe on one page a life so full of accomplishments? Professor Pick fought in the Second World War, worked for the BBC, was the head of the Czechoslovak section of Radio Free Europe and had a long and successful academic career, which included his receiving of the title of professor. He also served as a politician in the post of the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. For us, the employees of the Institute of International Relations Prague, however, the most important part of his career was the period 1993-1998, when he served as the director of the Institute. He contributed immensely to its development, and he continued to support the Institute even in his later functions. We would therefore like to congratulate him and wish him all the best in the name of our entire institute.

Lacking Foreign Policy Consensus
Petr Kratochvíl contributed an article to the Europe Policy Paper 1/2015 titled "A Region Disunited? Central European Responses to the Russia-Ukraine Crisis", edited by Joerg Forbrig and published by the German Marshall Fund of the United States. His contribution focuses on the lack of consensus in the Czech foreign policy, with the most visible example of it being the approach towards Russia.

Timothy Snyder in Prague: No End of History, No End of Politics, but Limits to Critique?
We would like to bring to your attention Benjmain Tallis's Commentary on Timothy Snyder’s talk ‘Russia, Ukraine and the Central Significance of Civil Society’ (held at Charles University, Prague, on 27th January 2015). The article was praised by well known personalities such as Dr. Jonathan Eyal, Director of RUSI (The Royal United Services Institute) and Edward Lucas, senior editor at The Economist. Dr. Jonathan Eyal described it on twitter as “an excellent critique of Timothy Snyder’s views on Russia and Ukraine". The article will be also published by the Visegrad Insight on Monday, 2nd February.

The 2014 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report
In the 2014 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, the IIR was among the 85 Top Foreign Policy and International Affairs Think Tanks in the world. From the more than 6 000 think-tanks from all around the world which have been asked to take part in the survey, the Institute achieved 71st place. We would like to thank everybody for their support and we are looking forward to reaching even more challenging goals in the year 2015!

We are interested in your opinion
Institute of International Relations is a dynamically developing institution. We place great emphasis on your wishes and requirements. How are we doing? What can we improve? How to get closer to your demands and requirements?

Von Falken und Russlandfreunden
Die tschechische Debatte über die EU-Sanktionen. Die EU hat wegen der Annexion der Krim und des verdeckten Kriegs gegen die Ukraine im Donbass Sanktionen gegen Russland verhängt. Obwohl Moskau die europäische Sicherheitsordnung weiter herausfordert, wird in der EU über eine Aufhebung der Sanktionen diskutiert. Die tschechische Debatte ist exemplarisch.

Germany and the Visegrad Group: An Open Question?
New article by Vladimír Handl was published on 11th December in The Visegrad Revue.