cutting-edge research into peace, conflict,
and international security
In our time of rapid change, the risks of major violent conflict are rising. The need to prevent unnecessary human suffering calls for a deeper scholarly understanding of the causes, consequences, and dynamics of violence, and for an elaboration of new measures to foster international cooperation. These are the main goals of our interdisciplinary Center of Excellence, funded by Charles University.
The PRCP will play a key role in the project “Foreign Interference by External Powers in the Context of Contemporary Geopolitical and Technological Changes” (INTERFER). Launching in January 2025, the project received the highest national evaluation score and is funded by the Jan Amos Comenius Operational Programme until 2028. PRCP will contribute its interdisciplinary expertise and international network to advance research on foreign interference, ensuring the project’s scientific and policy relevance.
This study, published in the Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament, explores growing nuclear anxieties in East Asia. Researchers Lauren Sukin and Woohyeok Seo investigate how citizens of U.S.-aligned countries like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, and Indonesia view nuclear threats. The study finds a delicate balance between fears of abandonment (being left undefended) and entrapment (being pulled into nuclear conflict) shaping public opinion.
We are pleased to announce that the PRCP has joined the prestigious European research consortium under the Horizon Europe programme for the project entitled TWIN4DEM: Strengthening Democratic Resilience Through Digital Twins. Our team, alongside with the Centre for Digital Humanities Integration (C4DHI) is one of 11 partners from across Europe collaborating on this transdisciplinary initiative.
This study by Irena Kalhousová, Eugene Finkel, and Jiří Kocián, explores how political leaders in Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic use historical analogies to frame and justify their nations' responses to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Through analysis of speeches and statements, the authors reveal how each country's foreign policy narratives draw upon distinct historical traumas and national experiences, like the Second World War, the Cold War, and specific events such as the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.
We conducted a survey of Czech citizens and members of parliament on attitudes towards Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The results show that parliamentarians are more supportive of pro-Israel policies, blame Palestinians more for the conflict and view Czech-Israel relations more positively than the general population. Our findings provide the first empirical evidence of a gap between elite and public attitudes towards Israel, contributing to debates on foreign policy preferences.