Supervisors & Proposed Research Topics
Supervisors & Proposed Research Topics (International Studies PhD)
András Szalai: Discourse and Security
Detailed description: The main question of the topic is: what makes something a security problem? Accordingly, I welcome projects that highlight the social construction of security issues through discourse. Projects that rely on securitization theory, ontological security, strategic culture, foreign policy identity are preferred, but alternative interpretive methods are also welcome.
Contribution of the proposed topic to existing research results: PhD projects on the topic can offer empirical demonstrations for the aforementioned conceptual frameworks. By assessing new case studies they can also contribute to further theorizing. For instance the logic of securitization in non-democratic settings is relatively underexplored.
Language requirements: fluent written and spoken English
Literature:
Buzan,B; Waever, O and de Wilde, J (1998). Security: A New Framework for Analysis. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner. 1., 2. és 8. fejezet
Balzacq, T (2008). The Policy Tools of Securitization: Information Exchange, EU Foreign and Interior Policies. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 46(1), 75–100.
Ceyhan, A., & Tsoukala, A. (2002). The securitization of migration in western societies: Ambivalent discourses and policies. Alternatives, 27(1_suppl), 21-39.
Della Sala, V. (2017). Homeland security: territorial myths and ontological security in the European Union. Journal of european integration, 39(5), 545-558.
Johnson, AI (1995), Thinking About Strategic Culture, International Security, Vol.19, No.4, 1995.
Kinnvall, C. (2004). Globalization and religious nationalism: Self, identity, and the search for ontological security. Political psychology, 25(5), 741-767.
Kinnvall, C., & Mitzen, J. (2020). Anxiety, fear, and ontological security in world politics: thinking with and beyond Giddens. International theory, 12(2), 240-256.
Lantis, JS (2002), Strategic Culture and National Security Policy,” International Studies Review, 4, 2002.
Mitzen, J. (2006). Ontological security in world politics: State identity and the security dilemma. European journal of international relations, 12(3), 341-370.
Mitzen, J., & Larson, K. (2017). Ontological security and foreign policy. Oxford research encyclopedia of politics.
Rumelili, B. (Ed.). (2014). Conflict resolution and ontological security: Peace anxieties. Routledge.
Szalai, A., & Kopper, Á. (2020). Translating Security across Borders: Staging the Migration Crisis in Hungary and Transylvania. Millennium, online first.
Watson, SD (2009) The Securitization of Humanitarian Migration: Digging Moats and Sinking Boats. New York: Routledge.
András Székely-Doby: Social, economic, and political aspects of Chinese transformation
Detailed description: China’s rise has been undoubtedly the most important development in the world economy since 1978. Besides transforming its socialist economy to a state capitalist one, China has also followed other East Asian economies in devising and implementing a special kind of developmental state. Although, in general, both undertakings have been quite successful, neither of them has been completed. The unfinished character of China’s double transformation raises serious questions regarding its further development, and, along with this, its future place and role in the international order. These problems offer several research questions for candidates interested in East Asian development.
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Brandt, Loren & Rawski, Thomas G. [2008]: China’s Great Economic Transformation. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Naughton, Barry [2018]: The Chinese Economy. Second Edition: Adaptation and Growth. The MIT Press, Cambridge.
Pei Minxin [2006]: China's Trapped Transition. The Limits of Developmental Autocracy. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Shambaugh, David [2016]: China’s Future. Polity Press, Cambridge.
Székely-Doby András [2018]: ”Why have Chinese reforms come to a halt? The political economic logic of unfinished transformation.” Europe-Asia Studies, Volume 70, Issue 2, March.
Székely-Doby András [2020]: ”The Chinese Developmental State: Threats, Challenges, and Prospects.” Issues & Studies: International Quarterly on China, Taiwan and East-Asian Affairs, Vol. 56, No. 4.
Wu Jinglian & Ma Guochuan [2016]: Whither China? Restarting the Reform Agenda. Oxford University Press, New York.
Xu Chenggang [2011]: ”The Fundamental Institutions of China’s Reforms and Development.” Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 49, No. 4.
Márton Varju: The regulation of markets and technologies in the multilevel European space
Detailed description: Since the launching of functional European integration, the regulation of markets and the technologies available in markets have taken place in Europe in a multi-layer and multi-actor regulatory space. The dynamics of regulation in this space has been driven fundamentally by the necessity of European regulatory centralisation, and/or its political feasibility. The main actors (the Member States and other stakeholders) represent and aim to vindicate different interests and/or regulatory demands in the regulatory process. Regulation – its possibility and its potential content – is directly influenced by the functional limitation of supranational regulatory competences. As a specific complication, regulation in Europe is – in principle – is expected to address the non-market and non-technological (the social and the moral) aspects of markets and technologies.
Within this thematic framework, research proposals are welcome in the following specific areas:
-the political and institutional history analysis of the regulation of European technology or technology-intensive markets;
-the political economy and regulatory analysis of the regulation of European technology or technology-intensive markets and the different industrial, economic and technology policy demands of the Member States;
-the regulatory analysis of the securitisation of European technology or technology-intensive markets;
-the regulatory analysis of the European model of technology or technology-intensive market regulation (of the internalisation of non-market and non-technological (the social and the moral) aspects in regulation).
Contribution of the proposed topic to existing research results: Current research results are usually fragmented and/or are based on limited empirical, empirical-historical research. As a result of the rapid development of technologies and technology regulation there is a constant need for further new research based on focussed case studies. Current research usually focuses on the developed Western economies and regulatory frameworks in Europe. There is therefore a need for research in the countries of the European periphery, possibly with a comparative orientation.
Language requirements: Knowledge of English suitable for PhD research in the social sciences
Literature:
Marise Cremona (ed.), New Technologies and EU law (Oxford, OUP 2017)
European Law and New Health Technologies. Flear, M., Farrell, A-M., Hervey, T. & Murphy, T. (eds.) (Oxford, OUP 2013)
Rethinking Law, Regulation, and Technology, Brownsword, R., 2022, Edward Elgar
Law, Technology and Society: Reimagining the Regulatory Environment, Brownsword, R. 2019, 1 ed. Abingdon: Routledge
Oxford Handbook of Law, Regulation and Technology, Scotford, E., Brownsword, R. & Yeung, K., 2017, OUP
Regulating technologies: Legal Futures, Regulatory Frames and Technological Fixes, Brownsword, R. (ed.) & Yeung, K. (ed.), 2008, Oxford: Hart
Rights, regulation, and the technological revolution Brownsword, R., 2008, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Algorithmic Regulation. Yeung, K. & Lodge, M. (eds.). Oxford University Press, 2019
Andrew Ryder: Community organisations and social movements
Detailed description: Exploration of social capital and framing in grassroots focused community groups and social movements, exploring decision making processes, asset based community development, critical consciousness and funding regimes.
Contribution of the proposed topic to existing research results: New insights into empowerment and the value of grassroots organisation in social enterprise, community organisatiions, social movements in social and political change and participatory budgeting. A key new insight would be means to capacity biuild organic intellectuals/those lacking education
Recommended language skills: English
Kriszta Kovács: Academic Freedom and Its Limits
Detailed description: One of the important fundamental freedoms in a constitutional democracy is academic freedom, the freedom to teach and conduct research freely. Yet this rather pivotal freedom is contemporarily increasingly contested. The proposed research projects can focus the following research questions: What exactly is the normative point of academic freedom? What are its boundaries in a constitutional democracy? How far does academic freedom go before other rights and freedoms limit it? What demands can society and policymakers place on academia regarding their role in democracy? One or more of these questions can guide the doctoral research.
Contribution of the proposed topic to existing research results: Academic freedom as a fundamental right has a somewhat precarious standing in European jurisprudence, and the topic is much less developed in the theoretical literature than most scholars would dare to admit. There is little literature to be found both among scientific articles and practice-oriented commentaries on the meaning of academic freedom and on the case law of academic freedom-related issues. The proposed doctoral topic aims to fill this research gap.
Recommended language skills: High level language proficiency in English.
Literature:
E Barendt, Academic Freedom and the Law: A Comparative Study (Hart, Oxford, 2010)
JC Hermanowicz (ed) Challenges to Academic Freedom (John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2021)
K Kovács, J Spannagel (eds) Academic Freedom: Global Variations in Norm Conceptualization, Diffusion, and Contestation Global Constitutionalism Special Issue forthcoming in 2024
J Lackey (ed), Academic Freedom (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2018)
K Roberts Lyer, I Saliba & J Spannagel, University Autonomy Decline: Causes, Responses, and Implications for Academic Freedom (Routledge, Abingdon, 2022)
M Seckelmann et al. Academic Freedom Under Pressure? (Springer, Berlin, 2021)
Kriszta Kovács: Equality, non-discrimination and preferential treatment in Europe
Detailed description: This doctoral theme focuses on two closely interlinked topics: 1) on the principle of equality and the institutional framework this principle requires in liberal democracies, and 2) on the practices of the anti-egalitarian autocratic regimes, including their measures going against the principle of equality. The doctoral research is guided by the following research questions: How does inequality manifest itself in legislation and judicial practice? What does the principle of equality imply for legislation and policymaking?
Contribution of the proposed topic to existing research results: The doctoral theme relies on the recent insights on equality of the disciplines from political and legal theory and political science to inequality economics. The method it uses is to analyse international and domestic legislation and case law with a view to identifying and evaluating legal arguments and doctrines that have been developed in litigation about equality. This type of research is in line with the faculty’s mission to conduct research with a focus on the problems of modern societies in a globalised world.
Recommended language skills: High level language proficiency in English
Literature in Hungarian:
Kovács, K, Az egyenlőség felé. A hátrányos megkülönböztetés tilalma és a támogató intézkedések (L’Harmattan, 2012)
Literature in English:
Atkinson, AB, Inequality: What Can Be Done? (Harvard University Press, 2015).
Dworkin, D, Sovereign Virtue: the Theory and Practice of Equality (Harvard University Press, 2002)
McCrudden, C, ‘Transnational Culture Wars’ International Journal of Constitutional Law 13:2 2015.
Nagel, T, ‘The Problem of Global Justice’ Philosophy & Public Affairs Summer 2005.
Anna Unger: Contemporary social and political changes – autocratization and democratization in comparative perspective
Detailed description: Contemporary social science examines trends towards democratization and autocratization from a variety of angles. From the perspective of political institutions, civil society, human rights or democratic theory, the origins and processes of both democratization and autocratization are relevant topics. As in the classic works (Rustow, Linz, Linz-Stepan, Huntington, O'Donnell), the focus of research should be on comparative studies covering several countries in a given region, or even on large-scale studies covering several regions, focusing on the electoral system, the political institutions as a whole (parties, representative institutions, local politics), civil society, or changes in social fault lines and political values. What is changing in these segments that trigger processes of democratization or even autocratization? And vice versa, what changes in these segments are brought about by a democratization/autocratization process?
Contribution of the proposed topic to existing research results: Current research focuses mainly on the processes of democratization and autocratization from the perspective of constitutional order, institutions and principles. The proposed lines of research broaden and enrich this scope.
Recommended language skills: English
Literature:
Birch, Sara (2011): Electoral malpractice. Oxford University Press.
Bunce, Valerie - Wolchik, Sharon L. (2011) Defeating Authoritarian Leaders in Postcommunist Countries, Cambridge Univeresity Press, New York.
Levitsky, Steven - Way, Lucan A. (2010): Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes After the Cold War. Cambridge University Press.
Lindberg, Staffan I. (2006) Democracy and Elections in Africa. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
Linz, Juan J. (1975): Totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. In Greenstein, Fred I. - Polsby, Nelson (eds.): Handbook of Political Science, Vol. Macropolitical Theory. Addison-Wesley Publishing, Reading, Massachusetts.
Lührmann, A. – Lindberg. S. I. (2019) A third wave of autocratization is here: what is new about it? Democratization, 26(7), 1095-1113.
Norris, Pippa - Frank, Richard W. - Coma, Ferran Martínez (eds. 2015) Contentious Elections: from Ballots to Barricades Routledge, New York and London.
Przeworski, Adam (2022): Formal Model of Authoritarian Regimes: A Critique Perspectives on Politics, 1-10.
Schedler, Andreas (2002): The Menu of Manipulation, Journal of Democracy, 13(2), 36-50.
Schedler, Andreas (ed. 2006): Electoral Authoritarianism: The Dynamics of Unfree Competition. Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Schedler, Andreas (2013) The Politics of Uncertainty: Sustaining and Subverting Electoral Authoritarianism, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Seeberg, Merete Bech (2018) State Capacity, Economic Control, and Authoritarian Elections, Routledge, London and New York.
Kriszta Kovács: The role of supranational and domestic courts in protecting constitutionalism
Detailed description: Constitutional principles and ideas are relevant not only for the domestic law of states but for law beyond the state as well. Both supranational courts and domestic apex courts have a role to play in assessing whether those basic constitutional standards are met. Hence, the relationship between the national and the international is not primarily a political affair left to the legislative and executive branches. What concepts of constitutional theory are used and the most effective to protect constitutionalism at the domestic and supranational level? This doctoral theme searches for an answer to this question.
Contribution of the proposed topic to existing research results: The recent rise of national populist authoritarians, the disintegration of the European Union, and the backlash against international institutions bring into question whether the supranational courts are legitimate institutions to protect constitutionalism. These challenges also question whether existing doctrinal approaches to constitutional engagement beyond the state, such as Solange, ultra vires, and constitutional identity, are suitable mechanisms for domestic constitutional courts. This doctoral theme aims to understand these authoritarian challenges and provide ways to ensure constitutional resilience.
Recommended language skills: High level language proficiency in English
Literature:
Baer, S, Kovács, K and M Vogel, ‘Constitutionalism Today: The Prospects of the European Constitutional Community’, in K Kovács (ed) The Jurisprudence of Particularism. National Identity Claims in Central Europe (Hart, 2023)
Kumm, M, Global Constitutionalism: ‘History, Theory and Contemporary Challenges’ (2022) Revista Direito e Praxis 13(4) 2732-2773
Landfried, C, Judicial Power. How Constitutional Court Affect Political Transfromations (Cambridge University Press, 2019)
Stone Sweet, A, The Judicial Construction of Europe (Oxford University Press, 2004)
Traisbach, K (ed), Judicial Authority, Legitimacy and the (International) Rule of Law (2021) Global Constitutionalism Special Issue 10(1)
Máté Zombory: History and memory of antifascism
Detailed description: The topic lies at the intersection of the research fields of Memory Studies and the historiography of anti-fascism. It examines the following aspects of the last 100 years of anti-fascism from a historical and sociological perspective: a) antifascism as an ideologically diverse and international social movement; b) aesthetics: artworks (especially graphic arts, photography and film); c) social theory: social theoretical problematizations of the question of fascism. Focus on the interrelationship of these aspects is particularly encouraged. A transnational approach is expected. The method is optional.
Contribution of the proposed topic to existing research results: Emerging field, added value from its explorative nature.
Language requirements: English
Literature in Hungarian:
Kékesi Zoltán, Zombory Máté. ‘Antifasiszta emlékezet újragondolva. Magyar történeti kiállítások Oświęcimben és Párizsban 1965-Ben’. Korall. Társadalomtörténeti Folyóirat, no. 85 (2021): 138–68. https://doi.org/10.52656/KORALL.2021.03.007
Literature in English:
Braskén, Kasper, Nigel Copsey, and David Featherstone, eds. Anti-Fascism in a Global Perspective: Transnational Networks, Exile Communities, and Radical Internationalism. London New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2021.
García, Hugo, Mercedes Yusta Rodrigo, Xavier Tabet, and Cristina Clímaco, eds. Rethinking Antifascism: History, Memory and Politics, 1922 to the Present. New York: Berghahn Books, 2016.
Kékesi, Zoltán, and Máté Zombory. ‘Antifascist Memory Revisited: Hungarian Historical Exhibitions in Oświęcim and Paris, 1965’. Memory Studies 15, no. 5 (October 2022): 1087–1104. https://doi.org/10.1177/17506980211066582.
Kékesi, Zoltán, and Máté Zombory. ‘Beyond Multidirectional Memory: Opening Pathways to Politics and Solidarity’. Memory Studies, 5 June 2023, 175069802311760. https://doi.org/10.1177/17506980231176040.
Seidman, Michael. Transatlantic Antifascisms from the Spanish Civil War to the End of World War II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
Andrew Ryder: Understanding Society through Critical Ethnography and Participant Observation
Description: There have been a growing number of participant observation and ethnographic studies involving reflexivity, in for example, the context of civil society and higher education. Such research reveals the impact of donor driven agendas in civil society and the potential of critical pedagogy. Critical University Studies (CUS) is interested in understanding audit culture and the commodification of higher education and demise of academic freedom and here qualitative research involving participant observation, ethnography and reflexivity has made an important contribution to CUS.
Number of positions: 3
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Bourdieu, P. (1990b) In other Words: Essays Towards a Reflexive Sociology, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Brown, W. (2015) Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism's Stealth Revolution, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
Andrew Ryder: Discourse Analysis and Populism
Description: An important development in the past decade has been the rise of populism, critical discourse analysis (CDA), a study of speech acts through an interdisciplinary approach, can provide important insights into populism. Such research describes the social processes and structures that give rise to the production of a speech act and uncovers the ideological assumptions that are hidden in our words. CDA thus helps to increase consciousness of how language contributes to domination and is a step towards emancipation (Fairclough, 1989). CDA has the ability to uncover micro shifts in language that signal larger critical shifts and is therefore a useful tool in revealing the discursive nature of social and cultural change.
Number of positions: 3
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Fairclough, N (1989) Language and power. London: Longman
Reisigl, M & Wodak, R 2009, The discourse-historical approach (DHA). in R Wodak & M Meyer (eds), Methods for Critical Discourse Analysis. Sage (2nd revised edition), London, pp. 87-121
Ryder, A (2020) Britain and Europe at a crossroads: The Politics of Anxiety and Transformation, Bristol: Policy Press
https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/britain-and-europe-at-a-crossroads
Andrew Ryder: The Roma
Description: The European Union has introduced a new Roma strategic framework for equality inclusion and participation. In the coming years research that provides insights into the success and inclusivity of this framework through macro analysis and or localised case studies looking at Roma employment, education, access to services, participation in decision making and antigypsyism will be extremely important. Such research can and should feed into policy development and impact assessment.
Number of positions: 3
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Ryder, A. Taba, M. Trehan, N eds (2021) Romani Communities and Transformative: A New Social Europe, Bristol: Policy Press https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/romani-communities-and-transformative-change
Rostas, I (2019) A Task for Sisyphus: Why Europe’s Roma Policies Fail, Budapest: Central European University Press
Ildikó Barna: Natural language processing in the research of online hate speech and abusive language
Description: The Research Center for Computational Social Science (rc2s2.elte.hu) at the ELTE Faculty of Social Sciences investigates various social phenomena and processes using natural language processing (NLP). An important research topic of rc2s2 is online hate speech and abusive language. International research on these topics usually focusses on the identification and automated recognition of this type of language use. However, in the research group we also consider it important to sociologically scrutinize the sociological aspect of this language use. Hate speech and abusive language can be directed against a wide variety of ethnic, religious, social groups or minorities, and therefore a wide range of research topics are possible. To discuss the exact topic, the student should consult the prospective consultant before applying. The student will conduct his/her research during his/her doctoral studies by joining the Research Center for Computational Social Science research group.
Number of positions: 1
Language requirements: High level language proficiency in English
Further requirements: High level proficiency in python
Literature:
Barna, I. – Knap, Á. (2019) Antisemitism in Contemporary Hungary: Exploring Topics of Antisemitism in the Far-Right Media Using Natural Language Processing. Theo-Web 18 (1): 75–92.
Burnap, P. – Williams, M. L. (2016) Us and them: identifying cyber hate on Twitter across multiple protected characteristics. EPJ Data science, 5 (11). DOI 10.1140/epjds/s13688-016- 0072-6
Németh, Renáta, and Júlia Koltai. 2021. ‘The Potential of Automated Text Analytics in Social Knowledge Building’. In Pathways between Social Science and Computational Social Science - Theories, Methods and Interpretations, edited by Tamás Rudas and Gábor Péli, 49–70. Springer.
Pál Dunay: The international security environment as a consequence of the changing structure of international relations
Description: The system of international security has changed a number of times since the end of the Cold War era. We are fairly familiar with those phases that have already closed. We know that security concerns have shifted from inter-state threats and given way to non-state actors, while the circle of means that challenge security also broadened.
After nearly three decades we have returned to a situation in which competition between great powers has taken centre-stage in the international system and has become its central element and problem. Contrary to changes in the last decades, there is reason to assume that the current change will reshape the system for the long term, as it is derived from structural change in international relations. It is no longer means that are in the centre of change, but power relations.
This change has several aspects that can be derived, segregated and analyzed separately. For example: the effect of change on the structure and main actors of international relations, their relations, and means applied in international security.
Number of positions: 2
Language requirements: English
Further requirements: The preferred framework of interpretation of the thesis is offensive structural realism.
Literature:
Loftus, Suzanne. Democracy and Transatlantic Values in an Age of Great Power Competition. Orbis, vol. 65, no. 2, Spring 2021, pp. 342-353.
Robert A. Pape, Soft Balancing against the United States, International Security, vol. 30, no. 1, Summer 2005, pp. 7-45.
Charles L Glaser, A U.S.-China Grand Bargain? The Hard Choice between Military Competition and Accommodation. International Security, Spring 2015, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 49-90.
Larson, D. and Shevchenko, A. Status Seekers: Chinese and Russian Responses to US Primacy, International Security, vol. 34, no. 4, 2010, pp. 63-95.
Stephen E. Miller. The Hegemonic Illusion? Traditional Strategic Studies in Context, Security Dialogue, vol. 41, no. 6, 2010, pp. 639-648.
Kenneth N. Waltz. Structural Realism after the Cold War. International Security, vol. 25, no. 1, 2000, pp. 5-41.
Beáta Huszka: Nationalist mobilization and ethnic conflict
Description: After the turbulent years of the 1990s, which were marked by state disintegration and ensuing ethnic conflicts in Europe, more peaceful mobilizations followed, reaching well into the 2000s and leading to further state fragmentation. During the last decade new nationalisms have sprung up in the EU and elsewhere. Currently, ethnic majorities are mobilizing against immigrants and minorities, while some national minorities like the Catalans and Scottish are raising demands for independence. Other minorities in Western and Central Eastern Europe are seeking new means of recognition and minority protection through legal mobilization. We invite proposals to explore the phenomenon of nationalist mobilization from various angles, and to discuss nationalist mobilization by both ethnic majorities and minorities. The scope of the investigations can include, but also reach beyond, the study of ethnic conflict by also considering reasons and effects of minority and majority mobilization under conditions of peace.
Proposed research projects can examine:
-how and why ethnic majorities choose to include minorities or opt for their exclusion;
-how the framing of national identity influences the dynamics of ethnic mobilization;
-why violence occurs in some cases as opposed to others;
-how security studies can help us better understand ethnic conflict dynamics;
-how and to what extent EU integration is capable of mitigating ethnic tensions, addressing unresolved statehood issues and tackling authoritarian nationalism in the EU and beyond;
-the linkages between the securitization of ethnicity, nationalism and authoritarian governance in Europe;
-the agency of national minorities in Eastern and Western Europe and in other parts of the world.
Number of positions: 2
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Andreas Wimmer. Nationalist Exclusion and Ethnic Conflict, Shadows of Modernity. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Jack Snyder. From voting to violence. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000.
Andreas Wimmer. “Dominant Ethnicity and Dominant Nationhood,” in Eric P. Kaufmann (ed.) Rethinking Ethnicity: Majority Groups and Dominant Minorities. London and New York: Routledge, 2004. 40-58.
V.P. Gagnon, Jr. The Myth of Ethnic War: Serbia and Croatia in the 1990s. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004.
Clifford Bob. The Marketing of Rebellion: Insurgents, Media, and International Activism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Deborah J. Yashar. Contesting Citizenship in Latin America: The Rise of Indigenous Movements and the Postliberal Challenge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Stephen Saideman, Beth K. Dougherty and Erin K. Jenne. Dilemmas of Divorce: How Secessionist Identities Cut Both Ways. Security Studies 14, no. 4, Summer 2005, 1–30.
Daniele Conversi, and S. Jeram. Despite the crisis: The resilience of intercultural nationalism in Catalonia. Int Migr, 55, 2017, 53–67.
Johnston, Hank. The Trajectory of Nationalist Movements: Catalan and Basque Comparisons. Journal of Political and Military Sociology, 23, 1995, 231–49.
Hank Johnston. Tales of Nationalism: Catalonia, 1939-1979. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1991.
Beata Huszka. Framing National Identity in Independence Campaigns: Secessionist Rhetoric and Ethnic Conflict. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 20(2) 2014.
Erin K. Jenne. Ethnic Bargaining: The Paradox of Minority Empowerment. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2007.
Maria Koinova. Why Do Ethnonational Conflicts Reach Different Degrees of Violence? Insights from Kosovo, Macedonia, and Bulgaria during the 1990s, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 15:1, 2009, 84-108.
Rogers Brubaker. Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
James D. Fearon and David D. Laitin. Ethnicity, insurgency and civil war. American Political Science Review, Vol. 97, February 2003, 75-90.
Stefan Lindemann and Andreas Wimmer, Repression and refuge: Why only some politically excluded ethnic groups rebel. Journal of Peace Research, 2018.
Ana Devic. Ethnonationalism, Politics, and the Intellectuals: The Case of Yugoslavia, International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, Vol. 11, No. 3, 1998.
Maria Todorova, Imagining the Balkans, Oxford University Press, 1997.
George F. Kennan, The Balkan Crisis: 1913 and 1993, The New York Review of Books, July 15, 1993.
Ole Waever et al. Identity, Migration and the New Security Agenda in Europe. London: Pinter, 1993. Chapter 2: Societal Security: The Concept.
James D. Fearon. Commitment Problems and the Spread of Ethnic Conflict. In: Lake, David A., Rothchild, Donald. The international spread of ethnic conflict: fear, diffusion, and escalation. Princeton University Press, 1998. http://www.f.waseda.jp/kurizaki/Fearon98b.pdf.
Ottó Gecser: Figurational sociology
Description: The research topic refers to the conceptual framework or approach developed and used by Norbert Elias in his historical works (such as The Court Society or The Civilizing Process) – and formulated in more abstract terms in his What is Sociology? – with its interpretations, applications, theoretical elaborations, and criticisms. Students interested in the topic may focus on broader debates that pertain to the figurational approach as such; may chose a phenomenon central to the research interests of Elias and his followers and compare it to results of other scholars who have worked within different conceptual frameworks (e.g. the historical changes of interpersonal violence, the emergence of sports, or the processes of informalization); or may design and conduct a new empirical research informed by the questions and concepts of figurational sociology.
Number of positions: 2
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Elias, Norbert (1978). What is Sociology? New York: Columbia University Press.
Loyal, Steven & Stephen Quilley, eds. (2004). The Sociology of Norbert Elias. Cambridge: C.U.P.
Salumets, Thomas, ed. (2001). Norbert Elias and Human Interdependencies. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Ottó Gecser: The social production of culture
Description: The production of culture approach (PC) born in the 1970s has, in the last decades, become dominant in American sociology of culture thanks to researchers like Diana Crane, Paul DiMaggio, Wendy Griswold or Richard Peterson. The basic question of PC is how the character of cultural goods is shaped or determined by the processes of their (industrial scale) production and distribution. The attractiveness of the approach lies in making relevant sociological (i.e. structural/institutional) explanations of culture possible without the danger of reductionism. Students interested in the topic may concentrate on theoretical questions relevant for PC as such, or on its relation to other approaches in cultural sociology; or they may study a phenomenon falling in the purview of the approach on their own.
Number of positions: 2
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Griswold, Wendy (2013). Cultures and Societies in a Changing World. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Peterson, Richard A. & Narasimhan Anand (2004): "The Production of Culture Perspective." Annual Review of Sociology, 30: 311-334.
Gábor Juhász: Social citizenship and social protection
Description: The research topic covers the ever-changing concept of social citizenship and its impact on the development of social protection systems and, through them, on access to rights and goods. After clarifying the theoretical issues, the candidate seeks to identify the characteristic features of the concept(s) of social citizenship in the country(ies) under study and the underlying concept(s) of state and citizenship through (re-)analysis of policy documents and legislation and interviews with social policy actors and subjects. A further question of the research may be whether a correlation can be established between the concept(s) of citizenship under study and the development of the social protection system(s) and the depth of institutionalisation of social rights. The research will help to understand how a society's view of social citizenship influences the functioning of the social protection system and its changes, and how changes in the social protection system affect the institutionalisation and acceptance of social citizenship in that society.
Number of positions: 1
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Mann, Michael (1996): Ruling class strategies and citizenship. In: Martin Bulmer – Anthony M. Rees (szerk.): Citizenship Today. The contemporary relevance of T. H. Marshall. London, UCL Press
Marshall, T. H. (1950) a): Citizenship and Social Class. In: CITIZENSHIP AND SOCIAL CLASS and other essays. Cambridge at the University Press 1-85. o.
Plant, Raymond (1990): Citizenship and Rights. In: Raymond Plant – Norman Bary (eds.): Citizenship and Right sin Thatcher’s Britain. London
Rees, A. M. (1991): T. H. Marshall and the progress of citizenship. In: Martin Bulmer – Anthony M. Rees (szerk.): Citizenship Today. The contemporary relevance of T. H. Marshall. London, UCL Press
Anne-Mette Magnussen, Even Nilssen (2013): Juridification and the Construction of Social Citizenship. Journal of Law and Society Vol. 40 No. 2
Ákos Kopper: Visuality and politics (films, mangas, images)
Description: Modernity brought visuality to the fore. By today we increasingly communicate with images, with textual messages being cut short, with some doing diplomacy via tweets. How is politics/diplomacy done via visuals? How does it link the local and the global, trespassing cultural/linguistic boundaries?
Number of positions: 2
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Barthes, R. (1978a). Rhetoric of the Image, in: Image-Music-Text, trans. Stephen Heath (pp. 32–51). New York: Hill and Wang.
Binder,W. (2012). The emergence of iconic depth, secular icons in a comparative perspective. In C. Jeffrey, J. C. Alexander, B. Dominik, & G. Bernhard (Eds.), Iconic power, materiality and meaning in social life (pp. 101–118). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Dauphinée, E. (2007). The politics of the body in pain: Reading the ethics of imagery. Security Dialogue, 38(2), 139–155.
Foss, S. K. (2005). Theory of visual rhetoric. In S. Ken, M. Sandra, S. Ken, M. Sandra, B. Gretchen, & K. Keith (Eds.), Handbook of visual communication: Theory, methods, and media (pp. 141–152). New York: Routledge.
Gombrich, E. H. (2002). Art&IllusionA study in the history of pictorial representation. New York: Phaidon.
Sontag, S. (2003). Regarding the pain of others. New York: Picador.
Williams, M. C. (2003). Words, images, enemies: Securitization and international politics. International Studies Quarterly, 47(4), 511–531.
Ákos Kopper: The transformation of borders
Description: What do borders mean? What do they do? The nature of borders has radically changed over recent decades. This change is partly caused by new technologies—surveillance, data management—but partly by reconfigurations of political communities. These changes call for critical reflections in the interest of scrutinizing how borders are created and how borders create political spaces.
Number of positions: 2
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Amoore, Louise. (2006) Biometric Borders: Governing Mobilities in the War on Terror. Political, Geography 25 (3): 336–351.
Bonditti, Philippe. (2004) From Territorial Space to Networks: A Foucaldian Approach to the
Implementation of Biometry. Alternatives 29 (4): 465–482.
Koslowski, Rey. (2001). Demographic Boundary Maintenance in World Politics: Of International
Norms on Dual Nationality. In Identities, Borders, Orders. Re-thinking International Relations Theory, edited by Mathias Albert, David Jacobson, and Yosef Lapid. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Lapid, Yosef. (2001) Identities, Borders, Orders: Nudging International Relations Theory in a New Direction. In Identities, Borders, Orders, Rethinking International Relations Theory, edited by Mathias Albert, David Jacobson, and Yosef Lapid. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Lefebvre, Henri. (2009) Space and the State. In State, Space, World, Selected Essays, edited by Neil Brenner, and Stuart Elden. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 223–253.
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. (2004) The World of Perception. London: Routledge.
Neocleous, Mark. (2003) Imagining the State. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.
Rumford, Chris. (2006) Theorizing Borders. European Journal of Social Theory 9 (2): 155–169.
Shapiro, Michael J. (2007) The New Violent Cartography. Security Dialogue 38 (2): 291–313.
Vaughan-Williams, Nick. (2010) The UK border Security Continuum: Virtual Biopolitics and the
Simulation of the Sovereign Ban. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 28 (6): 1071–
1083.
Wilson, Dean, and Leanne Weber. (2008) Surveillance, Risk and Preemption on the Australian
Border. Surveillance and Society 5 (2): 124–141.
Woodward, David. (1985) Reality, Symbolism, Time, and Space in Medieval World Maps. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 75 (4): 510–521.
Ákos Kopper: Technologies/Practices of governance
Description: How does governance operate? What kind of ’technologies’ are used in post-modern societies to manage and perhaps manipulate populations? What is the role of state, civil and private actors; and how are accepted beliefs/knowledge produced and reproduced?
Number of positions: 2
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Bonditti, P. (2004) ‘From territorial space to networks: a Foucauldian approach to the
implementation of biometry’, Alternatives, 29: 465–82.Foucault, M (2004) Security, Territory and Population: Lectures at the Collège de France 1977–78, New York: Picador/Palgrave Macmillan.
Haggerty, K.D. and Ericson, R.V. (2000) ‘The surveillant assemblage’, British Journal of
Sociology, 51(4): 605–22.
Hindess, B. (1996) Discourses of Power, From Hobbes to Foucault, Malden, MA:
Wiley-Blackwell.
Lukes, S. (2005) Power: A Radical View, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Lyon, D. (2003) ‘Technologies of surveillance and the surveillance society’, in M. Thomas,
P. Brey and A. Feenberg (eds) Modernity and Technology, Cambridge, MA: MIT.
Punch, M. (1999) ‘Policing the risk society – review’, Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(1): 199–201.
Vries, K. de (2010) ‘Identity, profiling algorithms and a world of ambient intelligence’, Ethics and Information Technology, 12(1): 71–85.
Wilson, D. and Weber, L. (2008) ‘Surveillance, risk and preemption on the Australian border’, Surveillance & Society, 5(2): 124–41.
Wills, D. and Reeves, S. (2009) ‘Facebook as a political weapon, information in social networks’, British Politics, 4(2): 265–81.
Zedner, L. (2007) ‘Seeking security by eroding rights: the side-stepping of due process’, in B. Goold and L. Lazarus (eds) Security and Human Rights, Portland, OR: Hart Publishing.
Zsolt Körtvélyesi: Diversity and human rights
Description: Managing diversity can take various forms, as do equality claims asking for exception, accommodation, transformation, etc. Differentiating standards carry potentials but also risks: human rights violations might be justified under cultural variation and collective rights. How to navigate the terrain of equality claims to avoid these risks but at the same time further equality? How far can we go in accepting deviations based on claims of difference without undermining consensual norms? Are theories of multiculturalism helpful in conceptualizing the margin of legitimate differentiation and human rights standards that should be truly universal? Are there meaningful standards of equality applicable to grounds as varied as race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, disabilities or class? Does intersectional discrimination require separate treatment? Are targeted rights better in achieving equality? Is the notion of vulnerability a workable standard with which to define grounds of discrimination? To what extent do existing regulations and case law conform with these normative requirements? How far can we justify deviation in federal, supranational and international settings, e.g., in the European setting, the margin of appreciation in ECHR case law or deviation from Article 2 values of the Treaty on European Union?
Number of positions: 6
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Jenne, Erin K., and Cas Mudde. "Hungary's Illiberal Turn: Can Outsiders Help?." Journal of democracy 23.3 (2012): 147-155.
Johnson, Olatunde CA. "Equality Law Pluralism." Colum. L. Rev. 117 (2017): 1973.
Kukathas, Chandran. "Liberalism and multiculturalism: the politics of indifference." Political theory 26.5 (1998): 686-699.
Kymlicka, Will. Multicultural citizenship: A liberal theory of minority rights. Clarendon Press, 1995.
Kymlicka, Will. Multicultural Odysseys: Navigating the New International Politics of Diversity, Oxford University Press, 2007.
Levy, Jacob T. Rationalism, pluralism, and freedom. Oxford University Press, 2015.
McGoldrick, Dominic. "A Defence of the Margin of Appreciation and an Argument for its Application by the Human Rights Committee." International & Comparative Law Quarterly 65.1 (2016): 21-60.
Meunier, Sophie, and Milada Anna Vachudova. "Liberal intergovernmentalism, illiberalism and the potential superpower of the European Union." JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies 56.7 (2018): 1631-1647.
Raz, Joseph. "Multiculturalism." Ratio Juris 11.3 (1998): 193-205.
Suk, Julie C. "From antidiscrimination to equality: stereotypes and the life cycle in the United States and Europe." The American Journal of Comparative Law 60.1 (2012): 75-98.
Taylor, Charles. The politics of recognition. Princeton University Press, 1994
Balázs Majtényi: Constitutional values and identity
Description: What do constitutional values and identity mean? How are they changing? How are constitutional identities of states (re)defined along cultural, ethnic or religious characteristics? A special emphasis is given in these PhD research projects to exploration of the cultural, historical and symbolic underpinnings of constitutional frameworks and the degree to which they overlap with or shape what is socially perceived as constitutional identity. All legal systems have historical and cultural characteristics that shape the constitutional framework. The main question of these doctoral research projects is: to what extent can the constitutional identity of a particular state be built on these characteristics? These doctoral research projects try to interpret transforming national identities as rooted in recent political, economic and social processes.
Number of positions: 3
Language requirements: English
Further requirements: Candidates are welcome to apply who obtained a degree from social sciences, communications or cultural studies areas and alredy proven their commitment and ability towards scientific research during their gradual training.
Literature:
Michel Rosenfeld, Constitutional Identity, in the Oxford Handbook of Comparative Constitutional Law 756–57 (Michel Rosenfeld & András Sajó eds., 2012).
Dennis Davis, Alan Richter & Cheryl Saunders, Introduction, in An Inquiry into the Existence Of Global Values: Through The Lens Of Comparative Constitutional Law 1 (Dennis Davis, Alan Richter & Cheryl Saunders eds., 2015).
A Jakab and D Kochenov (eds), The Enforcement of EU Law and Values (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2016).
Tomasz Warczok & Hanna Dębska, Sacred Law and Profane Politics: The Symbolic Construction of the Constitutional Tribunal, 188 POLISH SOC’ICAL REV. 461 (2014).
Brubaker & Frederick Cooper, Beyond “Identity”, 29 THEORY & SOC’Y 1 (2000).
Antal Örkény: CONSTRUCTING BORDER ETHNIC IDENTITIES AND MIGRATION EXPERIENCES ALONG THE BORDER OF EU
Description: The proposed research project “Interplay of European, National and Regional Identities: nations between states along the new eastern borders of the European Union” is aimed at a deeper understanding of the ways in which the modern European identities and regional cultures are formed and inter-communicated in the Eastern part of the European continent.
In this project we aim to galvanise these three perspectives on the dynamic relationships between identities and state restructuring. More specifically the project explore the ways in which European, national and regional identities are constituted and negotiated through individual and group narratives and practices within an increasingly complex set of institutional arrangements. The project explores the interrelation between individual identities (increasingly complex), group identities (where there is a growing significance of cosmopolitan and European identities parallel to national and regional identities), and institutional frameworks (still dominated by the state, but with the increasing significance of non state actors). The broader post-socialist space offers different contexts within which we can explore the changing relationships between identities, nations and states. These are for example: post-communist Eastern European countries; post-soviet countries with a historical claim on nation and state; post-soviet nation-states that emerged within the boundaries of the Soviet republics; post-imperial state and nation in the case of Russia.
Number of positions: 1
Language requirements: English
Further requirements: Thorough knowledge of ENRI RESEARCH 2010
high level data analysis, SPSS
Literature:
2012: /Antal Örkény, Mária Székelyi / “Constructing Border Ethnic Identities along the Frontier of Central and Eastern Europe”, in Interplay of European, National and Regional Identities: Nations between States along the New Eastern Borders of the European Union. Research Report #3, ENRI-East Thematic Comparative Papers (eds: Hans-Georg Heinrich, Alexander Chvorostov), http://www.enri-east.net/wp-content/uploads/Tender_book_09072012.pdf, pp. 64-89.
2012: /Antal Örkény, Mária Székelyi / “Diasporas in Europe’s boundary regions: characteristics of generalized trust and trust in institutions”, in. Interplay of European, National and Regional Identities: Nations between States along the New Eastern Borders of the European Union. Research Report #3, ENRI-East Thematic Comparative Papers (eds: Hans-Georg Heinrich, Alexander Chvorostov), http://www.enri-east.net/wp-content/uploads/Tender_book_09072012.pdf, pp. 90-111.
2012: /Antal Örkény, Mária Székelyi/ “Origin, identity conservation, assimilation”, Central European Political Science Review Vol. 13. No. 49. Fall 2012, pp. 9-28.
2012: /Antal Örkény, Mária Székelyi/ “National identity of people living in the border zones. Hungarian-Slovakian-Ukrainian ethnic identity”, Central European Political Science Review Vol. 13. No. 50. Winter 2012, pp. 110-134.
2015: /Antal Örkény, Mária Székelyi/ “Constructing Border Ethnic Identities along the Frontier of Central and Eastern Europe”, Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.2015.1059342
Antal Örkény: EVERYDAY JUDGEMENTS OF JUSTICE AND PRINCIPLES OF INTERGENERATIONAL JUSTICE IN CENTRAL EUROPE
Description: The proposed topic is about "reusing" existing databases of an international comparative empirical research dating back almost two decades, and answering new theoretical or methodological research questions based on these data. The aim of the research is to use empirical sociology to explore commonplace views of justice concerning market processes, social relations, distributive systems, the causes of social inequalities and everyday relations. In our study, the aspects of justice to be measured are closely related to the tried and tested concepts and measurement procedures of an international comparative study (ISJP) conducted in 1991, 1996 and 2005. The identical items provide a way to measure changes in attitudes over time and across countries. As public thinking on a just society has moved beyond traditional thematic issues (social poverty, settlement differences, inequalities in occupation, income and knowledge, etc.), the questionnaire is nowadays a key element in the development of a just society. ) to new themes such as the responsibility for future generations and its sharing in society, the ageing of societies and the provision of a decent human life for generations that are ageing out, individual and collective intergenerational transfers, the intergenerational fair sharing of social investments, the sharing of public goods and services between generations, the fourth wave of research in 2008 has therefore given priority to the study of intergenerational justice. The Hungarian survey was conducted by TARKI. We were asked to work with a sample of 1,300 rather than 1,000 respondents, in order to improve the comparability of the generational sub-samples, in which younger and older age groups were weighted by generation. The study also included a slide survey, in which we interviewed 391 paired relations of parents and separated children over 18 years of age. The parent-child diad responded to an identical questionnaire, offering an opportunity to test for direct generational correlations in values.
Number of positions: 1
Language requirements: English
Further requirements: Thorough knowledge of ISJP international research
high level data analysis, SPSS
Literature:
“Views on Social Inequality and the Role of State: Posttransformation Trends in Eastern and Central Europe”, /Örkény Antal, Székelyi Mária/, Social Justice Research, special issue on „Social Justice Beliefs in Transition: Eastern and Central Europe 1991-1996, 2000, volume 13., issue 2., június, pp. 199-218.
"Accounting for Rich and Poor: Egzistential Justice in Comparative Perspective", / Kluegel, J.R. - Csepeli, Gy. - Kolosi, T. - Neményi, M. Örkény,A/ in: Social Justice and Political Change (szerk.) James Kluegel et al, New York: Aldine de Gruyter,1995., pp. 179-208.
"The Problem of Social Justice", / Csepeli György, Örkény Antal/ in: Nationalism, Ethnic Conflicts and Conceptions of Citizenship and Democracy in Western and Eastern Europe, Vol. 1. Theories and Concepts,1995., ERCOMER: Utrecht, pp. 101-106.
Antal Örkény: VALUES AND IDENTITIES OF THE VISEGRAD COUNTRIES
Description: This project proposal focuses on the values and identities that are linked to the concept of nation in the V4 capitals. The capitals can be perceived as centres of national pride (Therborn 2006), but they also exist as multicultural environments where different people interact on a daily basis. In the V4 capitals, the propensity to vote differs from the rest of the population, with significantly fewer people voting for parties that use nationalist rhetoric. This shows that nationalist rhetoric is not as effective in these places. The project is based on the idea of identity plurality (Parekh 2009; Shokev & Erez 2008). Within this, it focuses on national and EU identity, nationalism, social belonging, political engagement, solidarity and trust, crisis situations, feelings of security, political alienation, radicalisation, marginalisation and civic consciousness. The project aims to explore the link between national identity and associated values (with a particular focus on the post-immigration wave); 2. to explore the formation and expression of national identity and values in capital cities; 3. to use the findings to make recommendations on how to address public narratives and issues related to national identity and nationalism, and how to mitigate the impact of extremist views.
Number of positions: 1
Language requirements: English
Further requirements: high level data analysis, SPSS
Literature:
Nation and Migration: How Citizens in Europe are Coping with Xenophobia. /társszerző: Csepeli György/, Budapest: Central European University Press, 2021.
https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/46596
DOI https://doi.org/10.7829/9789633863664
Antal Örkény: SOLIDARITY IN TIMES OF CRISIS - SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHANGE AND POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION IN AUSTRIA AND HUNGARY IN THE LAST 20 YEARS
Description: As a follow-up to the previous SIREN European research project, the SOCRIS research aims to map perceptions and reactions to socio-economic change in the two countries and to compare the political orientation of Austrian and Hungarian society. In doing so, the research will explore the impact of the crisis on social cohesion and democratic development. It will show to what extent these developments are fuelled by exclusivist, nationalist and xenophobic attitudes and to what extent they intensify the orientation towards the populist radical right. In parallel, the project will examine the emergence and possible reasons for the strengthening of inclusive and democratic-solidarity political orientations. With regard to the latter, the project opens a new space in showing under what circumstances people tend to be attracted to inclusive solidarity manifestations and to what extent they show support for and actively participate in various manifestations of universal and inclusive solidarity. The SOCRIS project examines individual reactions to the crisis, which are influenced by people's particular employment and working conditions and class positions, as well as changing value judgements and political orientations in the wake of the crisis.
Number of positions: 1
Language requirements: English
Further requirements: A thorough understanding of SIREN and SOCRIS research
high level data analysis, SPSS
Literature:
“Types of Solidarity in a Hybrid Regime: The Hungarian Case” (Grajczár István, Örkény Antal, Nagy Zsófia), Government and Opposition, Cambridge University Press, 2021. szeptember, pp. 1 – 20, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/gov.2021.36
„Different Types of Solidarity in Times of Crises: A Changing European Landscape” / Grajczár István, Örkény Antal, Nagy Zsófia /, Intersections.EEJSP 5(1): 118-142. DOI: 10.17356/ieejsp. v5i1.475 https://intersections.tk.mta.hu/index.php/intersections/issue/current
“Routes to right-wing extremism in times of crisis An Austrian-Hungarian comparison based on the SOCRIS survey” (Grajczjár István, Örkény Antal, Nagy Zsófia, Julia Hofmann) Socio.Hu, Social Science Review, Cultural heritage and social cohesion: Special issue in English No. 6 (2018), https://socio.hu/uploads/files/2018eng_culther/2018eng_grajczjar.pdf, DOI: 10.18030/socio.hu.2018en.95
Antal Örkény: Contemporary social justice dilemmas. Morality and social choices
Description: The proposed theme explores possible approaches to various current social dilemmas in terms of social justice. In everyday social coexistence, we are constantly confronted with situations and problems that are far from clear-cut and divide people. In a free society, individuals want above all to decide for themselves what choices they want to make about their lives and which of the possible alternatives they will choose. These choices are determined by instinctive beliefs, emotions, biases and conscious considerations or even cognitive biases. They are determined by the characteristics of our personality, but also by our personal interests, our life circumstances, our knowledge, resources and thinking that are essential to our choices. And of course, the necessities and rules of living with others. Our social existence takes place in a context of coexistence with others, we are dependent at every moment on the existence and behavior of others, we need others, and our interaction with others plays a decisive role in our choices. In our decisions we always take into account the behavior of others, our own interests and those of others, and the mutual benefits or conflicts of interest based on cooperation. The institutions and rules of behavior that underpin social coexistence, which are the basis of the social order, provide the framework for all this.
Identities of interest and conflicts of interest are one of the most exciting dimensions of our decision-making. Identities of interest are best expressed in the fact that we can rely on the help and support of others to achieve our goals, rather than relying solely on ourselves. And taking account of conflicts of interest is important in order to assess the distribution of advantages and disadvantages and to consider when it is most advantageous to achieve our own goals. And the common rules of social coexistence serve as a compass for this reflection. These norms may be based on tradition, legal, political, religious rules, group membership interests or moral considerations.
Morality is based on the distinction between right and wrong, between social good and evil, and expresses some kind of valuation. When confronted with social dilemmas, the individual must decide what he or she considers right or wrong, what he or she considers good or bad for him or herself and for society. From this point of view, the term social dilemma can be understood in two senses: on the one hand, a situation in which one has to make a difficult choice between two different things that one can do or that one considers to be the right thing to do, and on the other hand, a situation in which one has to choose between the way in which one's individual interests and the common good are balanced.
The question of moral principles and social justice is worth exploring in a number of topical issues. I have collected some of these:
-Covid 19, crown virus, compulsory vaccinations and the covid test, elective surgery
-migration and the refugee question, xenophobia
-guaranteed minimum benefit
-gender, LGBTQ, homophobia, gay adoption rights
-family policy, childcare, child support, child protection, family policy
-artificial insemination, abortion
-inheritance issues
-make the rich pay, elite and success, distributive justice, tax rebate
-social media, internet
-data protection, data management: the limits of privacy and transparency.
Number of positions: 1
Language requirements: English
Dezső Tamás Ziegler: Integration and disintegration in the European Union
Description: The disintegration of EU member states became a widely discussed issue of European studies recently. The topic contains many questions which could be researched: is the EU truly disintegrating, or can divergence be considered business as usual? What areas are affected in the changes? How do integration theories reflect changes? What is the main drive behind conflicts within the EU? How should the institutional system of the EU answer the challenges, and what compromises can be reached for future cooperation? What is the role of domestic politics in developments? What are the social/historical roots of value-changes in special fields (like refugee law, human rights and single market regulations)? How do (national/European) identities change?
Number of positions: 2
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Beaumont, P. 2017. “Brexit, Retrotopia and the Perils of Post-colonial Delusions.” Global Affairs 3, no. 4-5: 379–390.
Börzel, Tanja A., and Thomas Risse. 2018. “From the Euro to the Schengen Crises: European Integration Theories, Politicization, and Identity Politics.” Journal of European Public Policy 25, no. 1, 83-108.
Checkel, J. T. 2004. “Constructivist Approaches to European Integration.” In Social Constructivism and European Integration, edited by T. Diez, and A. Oxford: Wiener European Integration Theory, OUP.
Eppler A, L.H. Anders, and T. Tuntschew. 2016. “Europe’s Political, Social, and Economic (Dis)Integration: Revisiting The Elephant In Times Of Crises.” IHS Political Science Series, Working Paper 143.
Haas, E. B. 2004. The Uniting of Europe. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
Habermas, Jürgen. 2012. The Crisis of the European Union. A Response. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Hodson, Dermot, Uwe Puetter. 2019. “The European Union in Disequilibrium: New Intergovernmentalism, Postfunctionalism and Integration Theory in the Post-Maastricht Period.” Journal of European Public Policy 26, no. 8, 1153-1171.
Inglehart, Ronald, and Pippa Norris. 2016. “Trump, Brexit, and the Rise of Populism: Economic Have-Nots and Cultural Backlash.” HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP16-026.
Jones, Erik. 2018. “Towards a Theory of Disintegration.” Journal of European Public Policy 25, no. 3: 440–451. 10.1080/13501763.2017.1411381.
Kelemen, Daniel R. 2007. “Built to Last?: The Durability of EU Federalism.” In Making History: European Integration and Institutional Change at Fifty, edited by Sophie Meunier and Kate McNamara. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 51–66.
Moravcsik, Andrew. 2005. “The European Constitutional Compromise and the Neofunctionalist Legacy.” Journal of European Public Policy 12, no. 2.
Schmitter, Philippe C. 2012. “European Disintegration. A way forward?” Journal of Democracy 23, no. 4: 39–46.
Schmitter, Philippe C., and Zoe Lefkofridi. 2016. “Neo-functionalism as a Theory of Disintegration.” Chinese Political Science Review 1, no. 1:1–29.
Vollaard, Hans. 2018. European Disintegration. A Search for Explanations. London: Palgrave.
Weiler, Joseph H.H. 1995. The State "über alles" Demos, Telos and the German Maastricht Decision. New York: Jean Monnet Center, Nyu School of Law.
Ziegler, Tamas Dezso. 2020. “Anti-Enlightenment In International Business And Trade Law: A U.S.−E.U. Comparison.” Hofstra Journal of International Business and Law 19, 162–207.
T. Ziegler, EU disintegration as cultural insurrection of the anti-Enlightenment tradition, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 434–448, 2020..
Dezső Tamás Ziegler: Far-right values and legislation within the EU
Description: This interdisciplinary topic focuses on the role of the European far-right on the setting of legislative agenda and policy making in the European Union. It does not entail EU integration studies, but focuses on political change and how different policies are made. Several questions can be raised: what are the general contours of far-right (authoritarian) politics in international relations? Do such contours exist at all? How do moderate parties reflect them? What does the new tribalism mean for the future of Europe? Does economics have an effect on the strengthening of far-right politics? What can we learn from the examples of historical fascism concerning cooperation within the EU? Are there similarities in member-state and EU level politics?
Number of positions: 2
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Anton Jäger, ‘The semantic drift: Images of populism in post‐war American historiography and their relevance for (European) political science’, Constellations 24, No. 3 (2017) 310-323.
Enzo Traverso, The New Faces of Fascism – Populism and the Far Right. (London: Verso, 2019)
Jason Stanley, How Fascism Works (New York: Random House, 2018).
Zeev Sternhell, The Anti-Enlightenment Tradition (New Heaven: Yale University Press, 2010).
Tamir Bar-On, Where Have All The Fascists Gone? (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007)
Federico Finchelstein, ‘Returning Populism to History’, Constellations 21, No. 4 (2014)
Federico Finchelstein, From Fascism to Populism in History (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2018)
Ziegler, Tamas Dezso. 2020. “Anti-Enlightenment in International Business and Trade Law: A U.S.−E.U. Comparison.” Hofstra Journal of International Business and Law 19, 162–207.
Ziegler, Tamas Dezso. 2020. “The Anti-Enlightenment Tradition as a Source of Cynicism in the European Union,” Chinese Political Science Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41111-020-00168-9.
Ziegler, Tamas Dezso. 2021. The Anti-Enlightenment Tradition as a Common Framework of Fascism and the Contemporary Far-Right.” Fascism: Journal Of Comparative Fascist Studies 10, no. 1, 16–51.
T. Ziegler, EU disintegration as cultural insurrection of the anti-Enlightenment tradition, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 434–448, 2020.
Zoltán Gábor Szűcs: Fiction and political theory
Description: Descriptions of imagined lands and utopian republics, narratives of philosophical journeys, arguments from myths, visions of a state of nature that no one could see in person, thought experiments, analyses of literary texts have always played a considerable part in political theorizing and even in our days, popular culture provides many useful illustrative examples for students of politics. The research focuses on the multifaceted (meta)theoretical problems raised by using these materials as instruments of theorizing.
Number of positions: 2
Language requirements: English
Literature:
A. Baumeister – J. Horton eds.: Literature and the Political Imagination, Routledge, 1996, B. Crick: Essays on Politics and Literature, Edinburgh UP, 1989; P. Euben, Greek Tragedy and Political Theory, Princeton, 1986, H. M. Holland ed., Politics through Literature, Prentice Hall, 1968, M. Nussbaum: The Fragility of Order, 2n ed., Cambridge UP, 2001; Therapy of Desire, Princeton UP, 1994; M. Shapiro, Reading the Postmodern Polity: Political Theory as Textual Practice, University of Minnesota Press, 1991; M. Whitebrook ed.: Reading Political Stories: Representations of Politics in Novels and Pictures, Rowman, 1991; B. Williams: Shame and Necessity, University of California Press, 1993. Zuckert: Natural Right and the American Imagination: Political Philosophy in Novel Form, Rowman, 1990.
Zoltán Gábor Szűcs: Political ethics and political realism
Political realism (both in IR and political theory) is often characterized as the rejection of morality in politics. But this is a rather misleading depiction of political realism and encourages many critics of realism to fight a straw man instead of actual realist claims. In fact, during its long history, realist political tradition was deeply interested in political ethical problems and many realist thinkers can be best understood as political ethicists. The research explores the main themes and characteristically realist proposals of realist political ethics.
Number of positions: 2
Language requirements: English
Literature:
E. Hall: Value, conflict, and order, University of Chicago Press, 2020; S. Hampshire: Morality and conflict, Harvard UP, 1983; M. Philp: Political conduct, Harvard UP, 1997; M. Sleat: Liberal realism, Manchester UP, 2013; A. Sabl: Ruling passions, Princeton UP, 2001; J. Shklar: Ordinary vices, Belknap, 1984; B. Williams: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy, Harvard UP, 1986, Moral luck, Cambridge UP, 1981, In the beginning was the deed, Princeton, 2005
Zoltán Gábor Szűcs: Political obligation, legitimacy, and authority
Description: The moral justifiability of a duty of obeying the laws and of the existence of a legitimate authority having the right to issue binding commands have often been called the foundational questions of normative political theory. Many other problems seem to emanate from these questions (including the issues of distributive and criminal justice, freedom, rights, democracy). The research will look into newer proposals and ask whether it is possible to move forward by introducing new theoretical perspectives (like political realism) into the debate or to adress certain problems traditionally not covered by theories of political obligation.
Number of positions: 2
Language requirements: English
Literature:
A. Buchanan: Justice, legitimacy, self-determination, Oxford UP, 2003; R. Dworkin: Law’s Empire, Belknap 1986; D. Estlund: Democratic Authority, Princeton, 2007; Ch. Gans: Philosophical anarchism and civil disobedience, Cambridge UP, 1992 ; M. Gilbert: A Theory of Political Obligation, Oxford UP, 2006; N. Hirschmann: Rethinking Obligation, Cornell UP, 1992; J. Horton: Political Obligation, MacMillan 1992, M. Huemer: The problem of political authority, Palgrave, 2012; G. Klosko: Political Obligations, Oxford UP, 1995; D. Mokrosinska: Rethinking Political Obligation, Palgrave, 2012; A.J. Simmons: Moral principles and political obligation, Princeton UP, 1979; A. Stilz: Liberal loyalty, Princeton UP, 2009; R. Vernon: Cosmopolitan regard, Cambridge UP, 2010; R.P. Wolff: In Defense of Anarchism, Haréer and Row, 1970.