Project
Institute of Political Science SAS
National Projects
KONHOSLOV - „This is not true, but it could be“: Conspiracy theories and hoaxes in the modern development of Slovakia in the European context
„Nie je to pravda, ale mohla by byť“: Konšpiračné teórie a hoaxy v modernom vývoji Slovenska v európskom kontexte
| Duration: | 1. 7. 2021 - 30. 6. 2025 |
| Program: | APVV |
| Project leader: | Mgr. Kmeť Norbert CSc. |
| Annotation: | Conspiracy theories and hoaxes are far from having the character of an innocent disruptive elements of the far-right or ultra-left scene. They both are also a serious security threat - they are an imaginary detonator of social tension, have the potential to lead to fundamental polarization and radicalization of society, which can grow into deep internal social conflicts, violence, ethnic cleansing, genocide or even civil wars and the disruption of social consensus (i.e. existing state borders, a new geopolitical reorganization of the world, etc.). This broad-spectrum dimension, stimulated a team of 25 experts in history, political science, ethnology, religion and security studies from three Slovak universities (UMB Banská Bystrica, UKF Nitra, UPJŠ Košice), two university-type academies (AOS Liptovský Mikuláš, APZ Bratislava) and two Slovak Academy of Sciences institutes (Institute of Political Science, Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology) to create a joint project platform and try to seek for a new perspective and a new contextualization of their significance. Project's ambition is to analyze the history of conspiracy theories and hoaxes in Slovakia in European context from 1918 to nowadays as well as the attempt to symbolically “bridge” past and present which has an aspiration to analytically contribute to discussion of one of the most discussed phenomenon of the 21st Century. |
Forms and mechanisms of differentiation and reconfiguration of public and political life. Collective actions and political attitudes.
Podoby a mechanizmy diferenciácie a rekonfigurácie verejného a politického života. Kolektívne akcie a politické postoje.
| Duration: | 1. 1. 2023 - 31. 12. 2026 |
| Program: | VEGA |
| Project leader: | Mgr. Kmeť Norbert CSc. |
| Annotation: | Political activities are limited by the existing disputes and they also play their part in specific historical developments. Over about the past hundred years, Slovakia has undergone a few radical political changes. These have been associated with medium-term periods, when one generation could experience life in two or more types of political regimes and constellations. During each generation, new forms of political and public life were created. This has led to significant changes in self-definition not only in politics but also in other spheres of public life, including culture and science. Ideologies provide a strong impetus for fundamental transformation for they reframe the evaluation of the past and the definition of others, creating new fields of collective imagination. The project aims to perform a series of analyses of political, public and academic discourse to see how the power and ideological influences of the time pan out to create a morally defined self-image and the image of others. |
REPRO-150 - Reproductions of Religious and Worldviews Structures in Slovakia. A Hundred and Fifty Years of Change
Reprodukcie náboženských a svetonázorových štruktúr na Slovensku. Stopäťdesiat rokov zmien
| Duration: | 1. 7. 2023 - 30. 6. 2027 |
| Program: | APVV |
| Project leader: | Mgr. Kmeť Norbert CSc. |
| Annotation: | In 2021, the 15th census of the population in Slovakia took place. Twelve of them have indicators of religion and worldview. This time series enables a unique way of analysing changes in the worldview profiles of society at the level of municipalities, regions, or specific religious groups. After 1989 a gradual pluralisation of the worldview structure began. However, only since 2011 has the proportion of those who claim to belong to small religious groups and those with no religious affiliation been growing significantly. The not-yet-detailed results of the 2021 census already point to some forms of change in all worldview groups. Setting the latest census results in a 150-year-long chain of censuses also raises the question of what factors, and in what form, influence the ability of some worldview structures to reproduce and grow, while others stagnate or gradually disappear. By describing the basic trends in the development of worldview structures from 1869 to the present and combining further quantitative and qualitative analyses, the project aims to explain the underlying factors that have influenced the reproduction of different worldview structures. Setting the analysis in the context of current international research on the reproduction of worldview systems will help not to neglect the influence of basic civilizational trends on these processes in Slovakia. The achievement of three partial objectives will lead to the fulfilment of this goal: 1. To analyse the historical dynamics of change in the structure of the Slovak population in terms of worldview. 2. To critically assess the methodological risks of measurement and to indicate the possible effects of measurement on specific results. 3. To show the possibilities of reproduction of different confessional and worldview structures in the crucial periods of modern history - at the time of signitificant modernization of Slovakia (1948-1989) and in the following period of building a pluralistic and market system. |
SKEUDIFGOVRE - Slovakia in European Differentiated Governance Regime
Slovensko v európskom diferencovanom zriadení
| Duration: | 1. 7. 2022 - 30. 6. 2026 |
| Program: | APVV |
| Project leader: | Mgr. Augustín Michael PhD., MPA |
| Annotation: | The proposed project contributes to the growing literature concerned with the DI and identifies analytical lacuna in the literature that has been the lack of focus on the consequences that the DI has on the level of the member state. Furthermore, it links the increasing willingness of some member states to integrate their core state powers directly to DI. Starting point of the SKEUDIFGOVRE project is to conceive of the EU as a political order with inherited system of differentiation. First step in understanding the current state of affairs is to disentangle conceptual variances in EU’s post-crises institutional order. While answer to diversity among the Member States was an attempt to homogenize policies and polities across the EU, now differentiation is often understood as a tool increasing the heterogeneity of commitments vis -à-vis the Member States and the EU institutions and in some instances might even be considered democratically problematic. Recent comprehensive analysis of differentiation in European integration shows that it follows two main logics: instrumental differentiation and constitutional differentiation (Schimmelfennig and Winzen, 2020). While the former “adjusts integration to the heterogeneity of economic preferences and capacities, particularly in the context of enlargement” the later offers nationally oriented governments in member sates opt-outs from the integration of core state powers, by which it accommodates concerns about national self-determination (ibid. 2020). These dynamics influence creation and maintainability of European multilevel political order and has eventually important effects on the nation states. Proposed project will seek to answer following questions: which processes contribute to / refrain from channelling organizational and institutional change; how is the stability/change of institutions maintained/achieved and eventually, in what ways the EU’s DI governance regime shape Slovakia’s position in EU's political order. |
Developmental trends in contemporary capitalism - contradictions and conflicts
Tendencie vývoja súčasného kapitalizmu – protirečenia a konflikty
| Duration: | 1. 1. 2020 - 31. 12. 2023 |
| Program: | VEGA |
| Project leader: | PhDr. Dinuš Peter PhD. |
| Annotation: | As a rule, the current system of organizing society has been defined as capitalist not only by the Marxists or by other critical authors; this circumstance also determines one’s approach to understanding the problems of its workings and development as well as the ways of how these problems are tackled. Based on the fact of the system’s existence, the project will aim to grasp its contradictory nature. In examining the contradictions of capitalism, historical materialism and other, more recent, socio-critical theories also apply the aspect of their class conditioning, which evolves in conjunction with the changes in economic, political and cultural life of society. This will provide a basis for the analysis of ever-deepening socio-economic and political contradictions of global capitalism with strong neoliberal orientation, and of the escalating conflict in these areas of social life. The analysis constitutes part of a comprehensive examination of the current state of affairs and of developmental trends. |
GreenREC - EU Green Recovery in the post-Covid-19 Period
Zelená obnova EÚ v období po Covid-19
| Duration: | 1. 7. 2021 - 30. 6. 2024 |
| Program: | APVV |
| Project leader: | Mgr. Marušiak Juraj PhD. |
| Annotation: | The beginning of 2020 was marked by spread of Covid-19, a new virus with at that time unknown properties, mortality, and long-term health consequences. Measures employed to slow spread of the virus seemed to have a positive effect on the fight against the pandemic, however, there have been also economic and social consequences as these measures impacted economic activities. The Covid-19 pandemic has thus had negative impact not only on population’s health, but also on virtually all aspects of society and economy. Energy sector has been influenced in two main ways. First, it was impacted similarly to other sectors of economy – by slowing down the economic activities, there was less requirement for many products including energy sources (and fuels). Second, the pandemic influenced long-term energy transition that was at the time of its outbreak on the way in several world regions, including the European Union. The EU has developed a set of tools to fight the economic and social consequences of the pandemic (the Next Generation EU fund and adjusted multiannual financial framework 2021-2027). To support its green priorities, the Union assigned 30% of these recovery funds to programmes that will contribute to its 2050 goal of climate neutrality. The main objective of the proposed research is to examine challenges connected to green post-pandemic recovery from several perspectives (European, regional, national) and in several areas (political, social, and economic impacts of the pandemic in energy sector including coal phase out, the role of nuclear and renewables, etc.) described in individual working packages. The project team comprising of 17 members coming from five research institutions (including three faculties from the Comenius University) will study these issues via interdisciplinary lens thus contributing to our understanding of post-pandemic recovery and providing policy recommendation to the decision-makers. |
Projects total: 6