General Info

Our research cooperation is based on the needs of the Ukrainian side, on the expertise of the Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena and other partners. The aim is to make the international partners' expertise on German politics, European Integration and International Relations available to our NaUKMA colleagues and at the same time stimulate the transformation and modernization processes in Ukraine at large. Our approach is strongly interdisciplinary and integrates teh disciplines of political science, economics and law. The following focus areas are currently covered by our research activities:

Comparative Transformation Research

The focus here is on the comparative study of the genesis and transformation of political institutions, the development of civil society and that of economic transformation. From our perspective, the analysis of the transformation processes in Post-Soviet countries should be connected with Europeanization research. Therefore we also look to accompany the implementation of the Association Agreement with the EU scientifically and ask for its transformative impact. The expertise of former EU accession countries might also be of interest here; our scientific partners in Poland and Slovakia have been involved in the EU-approximation process of their countries. At the regional level, we look to contribute to research in the area of the European Neighbourhood Policy and we are aiming to analyse the Eastern Europe Policies of individual EU-Member States.

Comparative German Politics

It is expected in this area to bring the already on-going research projects on Germany-related subjects together, further stimulate them and make the obtained results available for comparative studies while also working policy-relevant for domestic reforms in Ukraine. Major research topics will include the development of Germany's political system, federalism and the party-state, electoral systems and German political thought, as well as the development of Germany's "social market economy", and German and European law.

Embedding Ukraine in European and International Orders

Here emphasis is placed on the bilateral cooperation of Ukraine with central international partners such as Germany, the USA, Poland, and Russia, and on regional cooperation with important partner countries facing similar challenges (Russian minorities, secession, energy dependency, etc.) such as Georgia or Moldova. Another dimension aims to analyse the ongoing processes of Ukraine becoming embedded into international governance structures such as the EU, NATO, international financial institutions and INGO's. We can build here on the strong expertise of FSU Jena in the study of international organizations, Eastern Europe, international law and political economy.