On February 16th 2012 a roundtable organized by the IIPS in cooperation with the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland will be held in Ostrava. The event will deal with the topic of "The Future of Druzhba Oil Pipeline - Strategic Challenge for Poland and the Czech Republic". The results of the one year project elaborated within the Czech-Polish Forum in cooperation with the Centre for Eastern Studies will be presented. The aim of the event is to analyze real importance of the Druzhba pipeline, analyze Russian proclamations concerning limiting or interrupting its operation, find out which threats result from putting the pipeline out of operation and how high the risk of realization is. On the basis of the analysis the points of contact of Poland and the Czech Republic within the oil industry and outline the perspectives of cooperation will be identified.

On 24th January 2012 there was a presentation of a study about the future of unconventional gas resources in Poland and its implications on the region of central Europe held by the members of Energy section of the IIPS at the Czernin Palace in Prague. The study was realized on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. Its main goal was to describe the state of a natural gas market in Poland with regard to the potential of unconventional gas resources and introduce possible scenarios of future gas-supply of the region of central Europe. The presentation was attended by about 30 invited guests from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, environment, industry and trade, members of local municipalities, NGO´s and energy security experts and journalists. The study was presented by three members of the creative team: Mgr. Filip Černoch, Ph.D., Mgr. Petr Ocelík a Mgr. Jan Osička.

The Energy Security Section is glad to inform you that a new study is now available. The study outlines possible impact of new gas infrastructure projects on the gas flows in the Central Europe. The study is opened with SWOT analyses of the Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Slovakian gas sectors. Its key parts then focus on the Nord Stream, South Stream and Nabucco gas pipelines, on the system of interconnectors within the North-South Gas Corridor and on the two LNG terminals in Poland and Croatia. The text is further supplemented by the European Union dimension which profoundly influences the Member States' energy development.

The final issue of the Czech Journal of Political Science in 2011 features the text published by the Energy section members Tomáš Vlček and Břetislav Dančák entitled "Limits of effective naval blockade in international politics." The text analyzes the issue of peaceful naval blockade,which is very frequently used in international relations although has no legal basis. The text illustrates limits of peaceful naval blocade on several specific examples.

Tomáš Vlček, a member of the Energy Security Section of the IIPS, attended an international workshop on the topic "Where is the energetic future of Central and Eastern Europe?". The workshop took place on 16-17 December 2011 in Beladice in the Slovak Republic and was organized by the European Agency for Energy Security (EAFES) and with support of the Centre for European Studies.

On December 9, members of the Energy Security Section of the IIPS, Petr Ocelík and Jan Osička, attended a conference "Energy relations between the EU and Russia: partnership or rivalry?" organized by Metropolitan University Prague. In their conference contributions, they focused on the significance of the unconventional sources of the natural gas development in Europe (esp. in Poland) for the functioning of the gas markets and relations between the Central European countries and the Russian Federation.

In December 2011 the results of the Sixth year of the Czech-American Prize for Talented Students have been announced. The results are available here. The competition was organized by International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University in cooperation with Embassy of the United States in Prague and J. W. Fulbright Commission in the Czech Republic. This year the topic of the papers was related to the United States of America.

On December 6, 2011, a discussion on the topic of "Occupy Wall Street" took place at the Faculty of Social Studies. Via video call, Jana Kovačovská from Columbia University shared her first hand experience from New York, where the demonstrations took place. Afterwards the phenomenon was discussed fromm various perspectives by a lawyer Ladislav Vyhnánek, an economist Vladan Hodulák and a politologist Ondřej Císař. The event was moderated by a member of CCHRD Hubert Smekal.

Monika Mareková, a member of CCHRD, is the winner of the competition for the best human rights diploma thesis of the year 2011 in the Czech Republic. The thesis focuses on the conflict of the right to respect for private life with the protection of public safety. The competition was organized by the League of Human Rights in the cooperation with the vice-president of the Constituional Court of the Czech Republic Eliska Wagnerova which expressed her opinion on the thesis at the award ceremony: "Her paper is extraordinarily excellent and thoroughly written. That topic is very actual and we have to deal with this issues very frequently at the Constitutional Court.

Three members of the CCHRD attended the Seminar Armed Conflicts and Human Rights which took place on November 25, 2011 at the Faculty of Social Studies. Hubert Smekal gave a speech about the role of the European Union during the Arab Spring, Katarína Šipulová talked about human rights and the transitional justice and Ľubomír Majerčík presented his contribution Intrastate Prosecution of War Criminals - Universal Jurisdiction.
On the same day Katarína Šipulová and Hubert Smekal took part in the debate with the students and activists from Ukraine, Tchajwan and Barma. Together they discussed the topic of the European system of human rights and the role of the human rights in the transformations towards democracy.

On November 23, 2011, Petr Ocelík, member of the Energy Section of the IIPS MU, presented a paper at the conference "Gas sector of he Czech Republic and Slovakia: Topgas 2011" organized by Institute of International Research in Brno. His conference contribution dealt with the topic of interdependence between Russia and the EU. Petr Ocelík also presented the outcomes of the IIPS research project about the impacts of the new and planned transit infrastucture on the region of Central Europe.

Czech Society for European and Comparative Law, Institute of Law and Technology and International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University held the symposium Law and Energy Security. The event took place at the Faculty of Law on November 4th 2011. The first panel moderated by the Head of the Energy Security Section of the IIPS, Filip Černoch, focused on three topics - State and energy sector, Energy mix, Energy policy at the national and European level. The second panel discussed transmission, distribution and trading of the energy. The goal of the event was to foster an interdiscipllinary discussion about this significant, but by the law community rather rather marginilized topic.

On November 3rd 2011, Hubert Smekal held a presentation in the Czernin Palace at the Czech Foreign Policy Symposium on the topic „International commitments of the Czech Republic in Human Rights". Other members of the CCHRD, Linda Janků a Katarína Šipulová and Jozef Janovský, have also contributed to the text of the presentation. By employing of a quantitative overview the text tries to find out, how active is the Czech Republic in international human rights treaties contracting and to what level its behavior corresponds with the declared prioritized role of the human rights in the Czech foreign policy.

Czech Society for European and Comparative Law, Institute of Law and Technology and International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University held the symposium Law and Energy Security. The event took place at the Faculty of Law on Noveber 4th 2011. The goal of the event was to foster an interdiscipllinary discussion about this significant, but by the law community rather rather marginilized topic.

International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung held the trilateral conference "Common Borders, Common Matters" on nuclear energy development in Central Europe.
The event took place on 20th October 2011 in the Czernin Palace in Prague.

The conference focused on nuclear energy, electricity sector and industry development in the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland and the impact on foreign relations and mutual cooperation in the region. The aim of the event was to provide relevant data as well as experts' views and instigate the debate about these important issues.



CONFERENCE CONCLUSIONS

PRESENTATIONS of the panelists are available here.

International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University in cooperation with International Visegrad Fund and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung held the international conference on national populism and nationalism in political parties among the Czech republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The event took place on October 18th 2011 at the Faculty of Social Studies with participation of experts from the V4 countries. The conference focused on current development of societal moods of the concerned countries, adaptation of their political parties on the EU membership, and socio-economic globalizing tendencies. The outcome of the project „National Populism in Visegrad Countries" supported by International Visegrad Fund was also presented at the conference.
You can find the report from the conference here.

On 5th October 2011 the third annual Czech-German Day took place at the Faculty of Social Studies. The event organized by the International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University in cooperation with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung was focused on the following current issues: European integration process - how to proceed?; What consequences will the Germany's no to nucelar power have for energy policy? The Forum for Cooperation dealt with the issue of the German labor market opening and job applicants from Central and Eastern Europe. There was also a practical workshop on a successful job application process, a discussion with personnel managers of German companies and accompanying programme.

Energy section of the IIPS MU is conducting a project "Unconventional natural gas in Eastern and Central Europe". The aim of the project is to analyze potential, circumstancies, and consequences of unconventional natural gas production in the region. Special attention is paid to Poland as a crucial actor for the Czech Republic in the given context and as a country with relatively highest potential for unconventional natural gas production in Europe. The final outcome of the research will provide various potential scenarios of the future development concerning unconventional natural gas production in the region. Finally, possible consequences and concrete recommendations will be formulated for the Czech Republic.

International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University in cooperation with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung organize the third annual Czech-German Day at Masaryk University. The event will take place on 5th October at the Faculty of Social Studies. You can look forward to a conference on current issues: European integration process - how to proceed?; What consequences will the Germany's no to nucelar power have for energy policy? This year, the Forum for Cooperation will focus on the issue of the German labor market opening and job applicants from Central and Eastern Europe. You are also welcome to take part in a practical workshop on a successful job application process, a discussion with personnel managers of German companies and accompanying programme.

You can find the programme of the Czech-German Day 2011 here.
Please, register at registrace@iips.cz.

New issue of the Bulletin of the Azerbaijan and Caspian Studies Center focuses on the connections between the Caspian region and global politics. The papers deal with the perspective of the Caspian countries in the international organizations such as NATO and OSCE, as well as on the geopolitical topics or questions of social development.

The Bulletin is available here.

The Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization of the IIPS MU is planning an expert seminar on the topic of "Protection of Social, Economic and Cultural Rights by the Constitutional Courts". The seminar will take place on the 21st of April 2011 at the Faculty of Law of the Masaryk University in Brno.

If you choose to present  a paper, please contact us to consult the topic. We welcome the abstracts send to lidskaprava(at)iips.cz until 14th of April, 2011. The presentations should last approximately 15 minutes.

The International Institute of Political Science invites you to the seventh annual Brno Political Science Symposium, organized in cooperation with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Prague and with Czech Position as media partner. The event will take place on 4th May 2011 at the Faculty of Social Studies. This year, the symposium will focus on the "Interests in the Czech Politics".

Brno will host annual conference "Dialogue in the Middle of Europe" during the weekend from 15th to 17th April 2011. The conference will reflect the Czech-German relations after 1989 from the perspective of the 20th century events, Czech-German Declaration from 1997 and current mutual cooperation. The conference is being organized by the Bernard Bolzano Society and Ackermann-Gemeinde from Munich. The event will be attended by representatives from the Czech, German and Austrian politics. For more information, please contact Michal Vit (vit(at)iips.cz).

Petr Ocelík, analyst from the Energy Section of the IIPS MU, presented a paper at the 11th Energy Congress of the Czech Republic on Thursday, 31st March. The congress was organized by the Business Forum. Petr Ocelík's paper dealt with non-conventional sources of natural gas, the impacts of the "silent revolution" in the United States on the regional natural gas markets as well as with possible economic and political impacts of the development of non-conventional resources in Europe. The programme is available here.

The projection of the movie "Fourth revolution - energy idependence" took place in Brno on the 28th of March, 2011. The document by Carl A. Fechner quotes German politician and scientist Hermann Scheer. He thinks that we have approximately thirty years to fully switch to the renewable sources of energy. The movie features renowned experts, businessmen as well as ecological activists and predicts a revolution within coming decades. This revolution should consist of the shift from nuclear and coal plants to individualized solutions provided by the alternative renewable resources. The panel debate that followed the projection was attended by Filip Černoch, Director of the Energy Section, together with representatives from Rainbow Movement, Green Party, and the Eurosolar company.

On January 25, 2011, the Working Group on V4 Energy Security convened at PSSI to debate the objectives and possibilities of regional energy cooperation of the V4 countries. The group is part of a larger initiative called the "V4 Think Tank Platform" with the ambition of becoming a new and efficient instrument enhancing cooperation within the Visegrad Group. The working group consists of governmental, corporate and NGO experts from the Visegrad countries. The project is sponsored by the Visegrad Fund and the first meeting of the working group in Prague was organized and coordinated by PSSI, SFPA, CEUENS and the OSW.

In December 2011 the results of the Sixth year of the Czech-American Prize for Talented Students have been announced. The results are available here. The competition was organized by International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University in cooperation with Embassy of the United States in Prague and J. W. Fulbright Commission in the Czech Republic. This year the topic of the papers was related to the United States of America.

Overall outline of conclusions from particular discussions organized throughout the year 2010 by Ekonom weekly, Institute for Public Discussion and International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University is now available online. The discussions dealt with coal reserves, construction of new gas pipelines, renewable sources of energy, and other current topics. We believe that the opinions of experts included in the summaries of particular sessions will be beneficial to you. Final report is available here.

According to the recently finished study by the International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University which analyzed the impact of new transit pipelines on the Central European region, the security of natural gas supplies to the Czech Republic will increase in the future due to the increasing interconnectedness of national markets in the region as well as greater availability of alternative transit routes.

A presentation entitled ‘Russian Activities in the Natural Gas Exporting Countries' was held by the Energy Section members Filip Černoch, Hedvika Koďousková, Petr Ocelík, and Anna Leshchenko together with Petra Kuchyňková on 17th January at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. An interesting topic attracted a large audience from the ministries, gas sector professionals, independent analysts as well as press members.

The Czech-German Day 2010 has been visually recorded thanks to the cooperation with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. The event will be covered in a document testifying the atmosphere of this traditional conference of the autumn term.

In the meantime, short trailer is available here.

In December 2010, an event named ‘Students' Views of the Caspian Region' took place at the Faculty of Social Studies. The papers have been presented by the finalists of the student essay competition on the Caspian region - Jaromír Vojtaj, Peter Števkov, Nela Armutidisová, Jozef Janovský, and Aleš Zatloukal. First place went to Nela Armutidisová for her work on the conflict of tradition and modernity in Baku. The prize consists of the trip to Baku as well as publication of the essay in spring issue of the Bulletin.

In December 2010 the results of the Czech-American Prize for Talented Students have been announced. Fifth year of the competition was organized by the International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University, Fulbright Commission in the Czech Republic, and the Embassy of the USA in Prague. Texts from the field of sociology, economy and law have been submitted. The committee selected six finalists. The announcement was followed by the lecture of cultural attaché of the USA David Gainer on the topic of how to apply for a scholarship to study in the USA.

Practically useful knowledge, cooperation with the most progressive companies within the field and understanding of the topic so significant for the Czech economy - that's the core focus of the project starting at the Department of International Relations and European Studies during Spring 2011.

The project funded by the EU will offer series of eight innovated courses devoted to the energy industry and energy security as well as unique work placements.

Czech-Polish forum met on 7th December to approve 16 projects to be supported during 2011. Energy section of the IIPS MU will be conducting a project starting in February 2011. The aim of the project is to analyze real importance of the Druzhba pipeline, analyze Russian proclamations concerning limiting or interrupting its operation, find out which threats result from putting the pipeline out of operation and how high the risk of realization is. Final aim is to identify points of contact of Poland and the Czech Republic within the oil industry and outline the perspectives of cooperation. More information will be given soon.

Azerbaijan and Caspian Studies Centre, IIPS MU and Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan invite you to the discussion "Students' Views of the Caspan Region' which will take place at 6pm, 8th December 2010, room U41 at the Faculty of Social Studies. The papers will be presented by the finalists of the essay competition for a trip to Baku Jaromir Vojtaj, Peter Števkov, Nela Armutidisová, Jozef Janovský, and Aleš Zatloukal. The discussion will be followed by the announcement of the winner of the competition. The prize will be awarded by dr. Oldřich Krpec, director of the IIPS MU.

Monika Mareková, a member of CCHRD, is the winner of the competition for the best human rights diploma thesis of the year 2011 in the Czech Republic. The thesis focuses on the conflict of the right to respect for private life with the protection of public safety. The competition was organized by the League of Human Rights in the cooperation with the vice-president of the Constituional Court of the Czech Republic Eliska Wagnerova which expressed her opinion on the thesis at the award ceremony: "Her paper is extraordinarily excellent and thoroughly written. That topic is very actual and we have to deal with this issues very frequently at the Constitutional Court.

The IIPS MU, U.S. Embassy in Prague and the Fulbright Commission in the Czech Republic Invite you to a lecture by David Gainer, cultural attache of the USA and member of the Fulbright Commission on the topic "Study in the USA - How to Apply for a Scholarship". The lecture will deal with all levels of study (undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, visiting researcher) and will answer the questions of how to write a successful scholarship application, or which frequent mistakes should applicants avoid. The lecture will be followed by the announcement of the winner of the Czech-American Prize for Talented Students. The prize will be awarded by chargé d'affaires Joseph Penington. The lecture will take place on 9th December 2010, 10am, room P21, 2nd floor, Faculty of Social Studies, Joštova 10.

On December 6, 2011, a discussion on the topic of "Occupy Wall Street" took place at the Faculty of Social Studies. Via video call, Jana Kovačovská from Columbia University shared her first hand experience from New York, where the demonstrations took place. Afterwards the phenomenon was discussed fromm various perspectives by a lawyer Ladislav Vyhnánek, an economist Vladan Hodulák and a politologist Ondřej Císař. The event was moderated by a member of CCHRD Hubert Smekal.

Three members of the CCHRD attended the Seminar Armed Conflicts and Human Rights which took place on November 25, 2011 at the Faculty of Social Studies. Hubert Smekal gave a speech about the role of the European Union during the Arab Spring, Katarína Šipulová talked about human rights and the transitional justice and Ľubomír Majerčík presented his contribution Intrastate Prosecution of War Criminals - Universal Jurisdiction.
On the same day Katarína Šipulová and Hubert Smekal took part in the debate with the students and activists from Ukraine, Tchajwan and Barma. Together they discussed the topic of the European system of human rights and the role of the human rights in the transformations towards democracy.

The Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization of the IIPS MU and People in Need invite you to the discussion with former Cuban dissident Roland Jimenéz Posada which will take place on Wednesday, 1st December 2010 at 12am in the U52 room at the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University. Posada and his family were recently given political asylum in the Czech Republic. Posada left prison earlier this year after an agreement between the Cuban government and the Catholic church was reached. The debate will focus on Posada's experience from life in Cuba, the reality of prison and the question of suitable policy towards "the island of freedom".

On November 3rd 2011, Hubert Smekal held a presentation in the Czernin Palace at the Czech Foreign Policy Symposium on the topic „International commitments of the Czech Republic in Human Rights". Other members of the CCHRD, Linda Janků a Katarína Šipulová and Jozef Janovský, have also contributed to the text of the presentation. By employing of a quantitative overview the text tries to find out, how active is the Czech Republic in international human rights treaties contracting and to what level its behavior corresponds with the declared prioritized role of the human rights in the Czech foreign policy.

The committee of the selection procedure at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic dealing with the projects in the priority areas of the Czech foreign policy and international relations for the year 2011 decided to support the project of the International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University on 15th November 2010. The project is named Tripartite Conference On the Impact Of Nuclear Energy On the Neighborly Relations In Central Europe. IIPS Energy Section has thus become the researcher of this new grant project the realization of which will start in February 2011. We will inform you on further developments.

We would like to invite you to the international conference “HOW TO COMMUNICATE POLITICS” to be held November 22-23 2010 at the Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic. The conference is organized by the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Studies Masaryk University in cooperation with International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University, The Institute for Comparative Political Research, The Political Marketing Group CEE, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and Department of Political Science of Faculty of Social Studies.

The members of the IIPS Energy section Filip Černoch, Hedvika Koďousková and Jan Osička visited Israel for a study trip in October in order to start cooperation with local universities and think-tanks. Even though the entire trip wasn't only about energy-related security questions and it also encompassed numerous interviews with experts on other dimensions of security, the members of the IIPS Energy section had a great opportunity to meet several most prominent experts in the field.

On February 16th 2012 a roundtable organized by the IIPS in cooperation with the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland will be held in Ostrava. The event will deal with the topic of "The Future of Druzhba Oil Pipeline - Strategic Challenge for Poland and the Czech Republic". The results of the one year project elaborated within the Czech-Polish Forum in cooperation with the Centre for Eastern Studies will be presented. The aim of the event is to analyze real importance of the Druzhba pipeline, analyze Russian proclamations concerning limiting or interrupting its operation, find out which threats result from putting the pipeline out of operation and how high the risk of realization is. On the basis of the analysis the points of contact of Poland and the Czech Republic within the oil industry and outline the perspectives of cooperation will be identified.

On 24th January 2012 there was a presentation of a study about the future of unconventional gas resources in Poland and its implications on the region of central Europe held by the members of Energy section of the IIPS at the Czernin Palace in Prague. The study was realized on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. Its main goal was to describe the state of a natural gas market in Poland with regard to the potential of unconventional gas resources and introduce possible scenarios of future gas-supply of the region of central Europe. The presentation was attended by about 30 invited guests from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, environment, industry and trade, members of local municipalities, NGO´s and energy security experts and journalists. The study was presented by three members of the creative team: Mgr. Filip Černoch, Ph.D., Mgr. Petr Ocelík a Mgr. Jan Osička.

The final issue of the Czech Journal of Political Science in 2011 features the text published by the Energy section members Tomáš Vlček and Břetislav Dančák entitled "Limits of effective naval blockade in international politics." The text analyzes the issue of peaceful naval blockade,which is very frequently used in international relations although has no legal basis. The text illustrates limits of peaceful naval blocade on several specific examples.

The members of the IIPS Energy Section - Filip Černoch, Tomáš Vlček and Veronika Zapletalová participated in the Polish conference The Potential and the Experience - Polish-Czech Cooperation in the Nuclear Energy Sector" which took place on 12th and 13th October 2010. They presented paper on potential cooperation of both countries in given area. The event has been organized by the Warszaw Center for International Relations and supported by the IIPS.

The Energy Security Section is glad to inform you that a new study is now available. The study outlines possible impact of new gas infrastructure projects on the gas flows in the Central Europe. The study is opened with SWOT analyses of the Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Slovakian gas sectors. Its key parts then focus on the Nord Stream, South Stream and Nabucco gas pipelines, on the system of interconnectors within the North-South Gas Corridor and on the two LNG terminals in Poland and Croatia. The text is further supplemented by the European Union dimension which profoundly influences the Member States' energy development.