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Political science in Central and Eastern Europe: integration with limited convergence in Czechia

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A Correction to this article was published on 12 March 2021

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Abstract

This article discusses the integration of scholars from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) into the broader field of European political science. Evaluating data from 2000 to 2020, we ask whether CEE scholars managed to “close the gap” stemming from the initially underdeveloped state of post-communist political science. We contend that the results are rather mixed: CEE scholars have been increasingly present, yet achieved only very limited access to the top levels and mostly remain in a position of dependency. Using the case of Czechia, we discuss the factors that have likely contributed to the perpetuation of this state of integration with limited convergence.

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Fig. 1

Source: Authors, based on WoS (2020)

Fig. 2

Source: Authors, based on WoS (2020)

Fig. 3

Source: Authors, based on WoS (2020)

Fig. 4

Source: Authors, based on WoS (2020)

Fig. 5

Source: Authors, based on ERC (2020)

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Notes

  1. The seat of the author’s institution represents the main criterion for ascribing the publication, e.g. an article written by a German at a Czech institution counts as a Czech article. This corresponds to our structural definition of political science, as outlined in the introduction.

  2. A more sophisticated way of comparing countries would be by using exact coefficients to adjust the data for population, GDP or other indicators (with often conflicting adjustments for even these two measures; see Jurajda et al. 2015). For the purposes of our argument, a rough comparison without the use of statistical methods is sufficient.

  3. For example, Czechia leads the whole sample of eight countries in number of publications in the fourth quartile of JIF journals with 460 articles. Austria came second with 268 articles.

  4. The graph includes data with CEU. If CEU was excluded, the curve would resemble Slovakia.

  5. There is a simple explanation why the years 2012 and 2015 show such irregularities. In those years, the journal Politická ekonomie (Political Economy) made it to Q2 despite its being a Czech journal publishing mainly articles in Czech by Czech authors. In 2012, Politická ekonomie published 35 articles (out of total 51 in Q2) and in 2015 41 (out of total 65 in Q2), which largely inflated the numbers in the category Q1 and Q2.

  6. Until January 2021.

  7. CEU distorts the picture again. Hungary received a total of 14 grants, with CEU accounting for 12 of these 14.

  8. As of 1 December 2020.

  9. Problems of Post-Communism, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Europe-Asia Studies, Slavic Review, and East European Politics and Societies: and Cultures.

  10. The counts would change if we included CEU among CEE universities. CEU alone has two Associate Editors and four members of editorial boards, therefore more than the whole CEE combined.

  11. These are Charles University in Prague, Masaryk University in Brno and the Institute of International Relations Prague. For comparison of publication performance in 2017–2019, see the web app of the Economics Institute of the National Academy of Sciences at https://ideaapps.cerge-ei.cz/Performance2019/.

  12. The most important exceptions to this pattern are multiple Prague-based International Relations departments and research institutions.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the editors for their valuable comments. We also express our gratitude to Ludovica Balducci, Helen Cooper, Jan Daniel, Pavel Dufek, Blanka Farkašová, Vlastimil Havlík, David Kosař, Juraj Medzihorský, Miroslav Nemčok, Bríd Ní Ghráinne, Ondřej Slačálek and Daniel Šitera, as well as the participants of the Research Seminar at Masaryk University for useful inputs and comments on the previous version of the manuscript. The article was written as part of the “Perspectives of European Integration in a Changing International Environment II” (MUNI/A/1044/2019) project.

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  1. Institute of International Relations Prague, Nerudova 3, 118 50, Praha 1, Czechia

    Jakub Eberle

  2. FSS Masaryk University, Joštova 10, 602 00, Brno, Czechia

    Hubert Smekal, Petr Ocelík & Oldřich Krpec

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Eberle, J., Smekal, H., Ocelík, P. et al. Political science in Central and Eastern Europe: integration with limited convergence in Czechia. Eur Polit Sci 20, 183–203 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41304-020-00311-9

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