CEU Department of Public Policy

On March 13th, together with the Open Society Foundations, the Global Commission on Drug Policy, UNITE Parliamentarians Network for Global Health and the CEU Research Group on Drugs, CEU’s Shattuck Center for Human Rights co-hosted a panel discussion on the eve of the 67th session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in Vienna.

The fascinating discussion displayed the current state of drug policy strategies and how punitive approaches contradict scientific evidence and lessons learned from innovative, compassionate and successful practices that seek to maintain individual human dignity.

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Together with her coauthors, Prof. Anna Dreber Almenberg from Stockholm redoes experiments published in high impact journals with new and larger samples to see whether the main result replicates.

As an experimentalist, she also asks researchers to test the same hypotheses on the same data or to design experiments testing the same hypothesis to see whether the results hold.

She will be sharing her insights and results with us on 20 March in a seminar at CEU in Vienna.

We love to combine our studies with a bit of activism and a bit of fun!

In the continuation of the DPP Film Series, we are showing two short independent movies, focusing on drug policy and harm reduction.

After the screening, there will be a Q&A session with the film producers and staff from NGOs Drug Reporter (Hungary) and Échele Cabeza (Colombia), who work on the main topic discussed in both films.

With a stellar line up of experts, we attack head on the challenge of the drug policy regime seemingly running in parallel to the human rights regime.

This event, which will be webstreamed, will address the questions of how UN agencies involved in drug policy can better coordinate and complement each other to achieve full protection and respect for human rights.

Follow link in bio to find out more and register for the event!

Theories of voting behaviour are based on the assumption that citizens accurately assess the comparative advantage of the available policy options. But can they appreciate the outcomes of some policies, especially if they have indirect or equilibrium effects?

This research by Salvatorre Nunnari, Eugenio Proto and Aldo Rustichini, deep dives into the question of how cognitive abilities of voters influence the formation of preferences over policies and what is the underlying mechanism.

DPP will have the privilege of hosting one of the authors in our EBPM seminar series on 13 March.

💊Is twentieth-century drug prohibition effective in eradicating narcotics and psychotropic substances? Recent debates challenge its efficacy, leading to shifts toward harm reduction and decriminalization in certain regions.

🔥In this policy talk, the visiting speakers offer insights into drug prohibition's historical roots and contemporary challenges.

👉Please register for the event and the reception afterwards via the QR code provided!

We are proud to have been represented by Irene Tello Arista and Mihaly Fazekas at the Symposium on Systems of Financial Secrecy organized by the LSE's International Inequalities Institute and Open Ownership.

As panelists, they presented the results of the work on beneficial ownership and procurement data risk analysis that they have been conducting for several months for the Global Corruption Observatory at Central European University.

Find out more here https://www.openownership.org/en/blog/event-symposium-on-systems-of-financial-secrecy/

Watch this space for their amazing work!

Something a little bit different this time! In two weeks time, we will welcome Kerstin Grosch from WU (Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien) and IHS to share with us the insights from her lab-in-the-field experiment on saving behaviour in a classroom setting.

Our EBPM Seminar Series brings external academics and practitioners to discuss their ongoing research with an emphasis on innovative research methods and data analysis tools.

Find out more here: https://events.ceu.edu/2024-02-14/evidence-based-policy-making-seminar-ebpm-goal-bracketing-saving-decisions

The event is open, no need for registration.


CEU PhD in Political Science CEU PhD in Political Science PERG. Political Economy Research Group CEU Department of International Relations

CEU’s Departments of Legal Studies and Public Policy will host CEU’s next Distinguished Visiting Professor, Angelika Nussberger, during the winter term from February 5-21, 2024.

This Policy Talk will discuss the setting of priorities in the work of the Strasbourg Court and its dialogue with States and civil society against the backdrop of a tensions between high public expectations of international human rights judges and the burden of their everyday jobs.

RSVP required via the QR code. More info here: https://shorturl.at/dnsB0.

📢 Fresh off the press! DPP's PhD candidate Ihor Moshenets wrote an analytical report for the platform energypost.eu deep diving into US and EU's dependence on Russian civil nuclear energy imports.

Read the article here: https://energypost.eu/about-us/.

Join us for a practitioner's talk on the state of civil society in Europe, the impact that threats and attacks have on activists and how we can support and empower them.

On Thursday, 25 January, at 530pm, we will welcome Waltraud Heller from the Fundamental Rights Agency of the EU (FRA), for a talk, a panel discussion, a Q&A session and a reception.

RSVP required. More info available here: https://shorturl.at/kDFH1.

CEU Political Science Department CEU Department of International Relations CEU PhD in Political Science

📢 The Human Forum in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, attracts hundreds of civil society organizations, activists, politicians, businesspeople, and academics. This year's topic was "Strengthening Democracy and Civil Society as the Prevention of the Growth of Extremism".

🎤 The Shattuck Center’s Director, Martin Kahanec, participated in a discussion on "Opportunities for cooperation between Slovakia and post-war Ukraine: Ukraine's needs in the field of development of democracy and respect for human rights".

⏩ A democratic, resourceful, and active civic society and business sector are key partners in this undertaking.

Find out more here https://dpp.ceu.edu/article/2024-01-18/shattuck-center-participates-slovak-human-forum.

⚡Questions of remembrance seem to divide many societies. Are these debates interminable, or can they potentially be resolved? This talk will argue that an "Ethics of Political Commemoration" can help to at least order many of the debates on remembrance.

💡We are welcoming Prof. Gutbrod who has written on politics, ethics, and commemoration, and works as a consultant in policy research.

🍷Join us on 17 January at 5:30 in the Quellenstrasse 51, D001. Reception will follow the event.

More info and sign up here: https://events.ceu.edu/2024-01-17/policy-talk-series-ethics-political-commemoration-applying-new-paradigm-remembrance

CEU Political Science Department Central European University CEU PhD in Political Science

Learn more about our world-class degree programs and get answers to your most important questions, immerse yourself in our diverse community, and speak with our professors and departmental representatives directly. See you online! 🎓

Representatives of the DPP will be holding a presentation at 4:30 pm – 5:00 pm. Tune in if you are interested!

You can find all the additional information on the CEU website.

A chance for prospective students to get advice from the faculty and staff of the Department of Public Policy at CEU!
Join us for two extraordinary sessions on 10 and 11 January and find out more about how to apply for our Masters programmes.

SIGN UP via the QR code and we will send you a zoom link.

Looking forward to seeing you online!

For all of you out there interested in a PhD in Political Science, Public Policy track, join one of our January information sessions that help you navigate the application process. Sign up for the online webinar here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1044856870057754/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[]%7D

🌠We at the Department of Public Policy wish all of you - our students, our faculty members, our staff, our past and future students, and all our fans and followers out there - a happy and replenishing holiday season!🌠

⚡Widespread frustration with representative democracy makes even the long established traditional parties adapt under pressures to provide social movement-like experiences.

🥁In a newly published paper in the German Political Science Quarterly, our postdoctoral fellow Felix Butzlaff analyses these strategies by political parties in Germany, Austria and the UK.

💡Whereas Social Democrats envision a more bottom-up re-organization but seriously suffer from the tensions this causes among different member groups, Conservatives (if at all) embrace movement-ization as a top-down steered strategic re-branding.

The article is open access and can be found here https://rdcu.be/dtgWh.

👏Congratulations Felix!👏



CEU Political Science Department Central European University

🎯 Ihor Moshenets, a PhD candidate in Public Policy, has co-authored with Thomas Laffitte, another CEU PhD candidate, a comprehensive examination of the Ukrainian energy sector after the Russian invasion.

📎The article is available in open access on the Foreign Policy Research Institute webpage: https://www.fpri.org/article/2023/12/the-impact-of-the-war-on-ukraines-energy-landscape/.


CEU Political Science Department CEU Department of International Relations Central European University

🎤Join us today for a lecture by Mary Kaldor, our Visiting Professor.

🎤This lecture will put forward the argument that the world is in the midst of an experimental juncture when dramatic political change takes place.

🎤We can only escape from the current drama through social pressure for a transformation of world order that combines a human rights based political system with a resource saving economic model.


CEU - Nationalism Studies Program
CEU Political Science Department
CEU Department of International Relations

🎺Only the weekend is between YOU and our second FILM in the series of organised by CEU Department of Public Policy. Don't miss out!

🥇According to The New York Times in 2017, this was the fifth "Best Film of the 21st Century So Far".

🎬This critically-acclaimed 2005 Romanian talks of failures of a public health system in such a bleak way that it becomes... funny.

Central European University
Admiral Kino

We are delighted to announce a very important project initiated by our visiting lecturer and the founder of the Media and Journalism Research Centre, Marius Dragomir.

"Decoding the Power Play: Media and Elections in 2024", will chart the interplay among media, political parties and the business sector in a highly charged electoral year 2024 in a wide number of important countries including the US, EU, potentially the UK, India, Russia, Indonesia, South Africa, Mexico, Pakistan, South Korea, a string of European countries and over a dozen African nations.

The project will systematically examine and track two crucial areas that significantly shape the dynamics of the electoral process: media ownership and political finance, as well as social networks.

We wish him all the success!

🍦Get a taste of life at Central European University at the
☀️CEU Open Day
📆on 24 November
📌at our premises in Quellenstrasse 51, 1100 Vienna.

🤸While you are here, come and introduce yourself to the staff and faculty of the Department of Public Policy in the Mini fair starting at ⏰4pm in the Cafeteria.

👀For those not able to join us physically, please note that parts of the event are held in hybrid form.

You can find more information about the Open Day here: https://www.ceu.edu/ceu-open-day.

Congratulations! A new paper by Dr. Fazekas, co-authored with Emmanuel Wittberg, has been published in the journal Public Choice by Springer-Link. Follow the link to the article here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11127-023-01102-8

The article looks at whether corruption risks in public procurement impact the profitability of firms in the Swedish construction industry.

The empirical findings underscore that public procurement corruption risks distort markets and economic incentives, and that this risk is present even in low-corruption contexts such as in Sweden.

We offer prospective students a chance to meet the representatives of our department at our Open Day in Vienna on 29 November!

For those not physically in Vienna, we are offering online sessions.

Find out more here: https://www.ceu.edu/ceu-open-day.

📢Event announcement📢
29 November, 3:40pm, CEU Auditorium, Quellenstrasse 51, Vienna

We are continuing with our evidence-based policy making seminar series and this time we are joining forces with the History Department to welcome a renowned historian from the University of Vienna, Prof. Dr. Peter Becker.

The talk will be about the decision-making practices of the Austrian emperor Francis Joseph who made efforts to weld the modern state and the capitalist economy into the logic of bureaucratic monarchical rule. The result was a rationality crisis, which spread out into the entire system of public administration.

Find out more about the event here: https://events.ceu.edu/2023-11-29/evidence-based-policy-making-seminar-ebpm-rationality-crisis-emperors-desk-how-not-weld

CEU History Department

Attention everyone looking to apply to CEU!

Get a taste of the life at CEU at the CEU Open Day on 24 November at CEU premises in Quellenstrasse 51, 1100 Vienna.

While you are here, come and introduce yourself to the staff and faculty of the Department of Public Policy in the Mini fair starting at 4pm in the Auditorium.

For those not able to join us physically, please note that parts of the event are held in hybrid form.

You can find more information about the Open Day here: https://www.ceu.edu/ceu-open-day.

📢Event announcement📣
The students from the Nationalism Department have reinstated their film club and are inviting you to their next screening!

👓This week, 16 Nov at 19:30, they will be watching and discussing a film about Romanian families searching for a decent place to live in France.

🚧From their abandoned village, to the demolished slum and occupied houses, their quest weaves together a common history, forged through solidarity and marked by displacement.

CEU - Nationalism Studies Program