Professional Organisations
The Institute is a member of several professional organisations in the fields of Political Science and Area Studies. This cooperation goes beyond mere affiliation, as several of our academic staff members have served in the management of these organisations.
ECPR
AABS
PONARS Eurasia
EUI
CEEISA
European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR)
Being an institutional member of the ECPR, our faculty makes sacticve use of the various opportunity for professional training, teaching and conference gatherings offered by this European organisation. Thus, our faculty regularly presents at the ECPR General conferences and Joint Sessions of Workshops while our gradute students take part in the bi-annual Graduate conferences and summer/winter schools of methology.
Moreover, Professor Vello Pettai served between 2006 and 2012 two terms as member of the Executive Committee of the ECPR, the second of which he was Treasurer and Vice-Chair.
From 2001-2010 Professor Eiki Berg was member of the Steering Committee of the ECPR Standing Group on International Relations (SGIR), taking active part in the preparation and eventual founding of the European International Studies Association (EISA). Moreover, Tartu hosted the first SGIR/EISA European Workshops in International Studies in June 2013, and hosted the ECPR Graduate Student Conference in July 2016.
Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS)
Several of our faculty are individual members of the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS), an international educational and scholarly non-profit organization. AABS promotes research and education in Baltic Studies by sponsoring meetings and conferences, supporting publications, sustaining a program of scholarships, grants, and prizes, and disseminating news of current interest in Baltic Studies. Since 1991, it has been a constituent member of the American Council of Learned Societies. More...
Professor Andres Kasekamp served as editor-in-chief of the AABS Journal of Baltic Studies from 2001-2005 and as member of the AABS Board of Directors (2012-2014), responsible for the professional development of the organisation.
Likewise, Eva-Clarita Pettai served a five-year term as reviews editor of JBS (2004-2009), helping to smooth the transition of the journal for publication under Routledge Publishers since 2006.
Both Professor Viacheslav Morozov and Professor Andrey Makarychev are members of the Program on New Approaches to Research and Security in Eurasia - PONARS Eurasia network, an association of over 85 scholars that promotes academic policy engagement on Russian and Eurasian security, foreign policy, and politics. Its members come from institutions throughout Russia, Ukraine, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Europe, and North America. Its activities and products focus on issues that are vital to global security and that play out in important ways not only for the states and populations of the post-Soviet space but regionally and globally as well. By engaging scholars with regional expertise and encouraging them to reach out across their regional specialties, PONARS-Eurasia serves as a unique resource for government and international policymakers as they frame questions and policies concerning national and global interests.
Prof Morozov organized the 2012 PONARS Eurasia Conference “Continuity and Change: Examining Regime Trajectories and Security in East Europe and Eurasia” at Tartu University and both scholars regularly contribute to the PONARS Eurasia Policy memos.
European University Institute (EUI)
The European University Institute (EUI) in Florence (Italy) is an international postgraduate and post-doctoral teaching and research institute established by European Union member states to contribute to cultural and scientific development in the social sciences, in a European perspective. By statute, the EUI is an intergovernmental organisation and Estonia is one of its contracted member states. In 2006 Professor Vello Pettai was appointed one of the two official representatives for Estonia on the EUI's High Council. Under his leadership Estonia took over the annually rotating presidency of the High Council in March 2012. As such he headed the search and selection committee to find a new Principal for the EUI, who was successfully appointed in December 2012. For more information about the EUI see here.
In addition, the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies has profitted from Estonia's involvement with the EUI, as several of our faculty have been the recipients of short-term research grants over the past years. Moreover, the Institute has been able to attract several post-doctoral research grants for graduates of the EUI. Thus, both Kristjan Vassil (PhD in Political Science, 2011) and Liisi Keedus (PhD in History, 2010), respectively, subsequently joined our faculty team in Tartu.
Central and East European International Studies Association (CEEISA)
The CEEISA is an individual-based open membership professional organization which was established in 1996 to create a network of researchers in Central and Eastern Europe in the field of international studies and thus support the development of this field and the individual professional development of its members. The CEEISA main aims are to enable meetings and exchange of research results among scholars based in and focusing on Central and Eastern Europe and to enhance co-operation within and beyond the region so as to secure a more tangible contribution to the global academic debate.
Representing around 30 countries, the CEEISA has more than 140 members worldwide. The CEEISA is a member of the World International Studies Committee (WISC). The University of Tartu is an important partner of the CEEISA: in particular, it hosted its 5th Convention in 2006. Both Professors Viacheslav Morozov and Eiki Berg served as members of the CEEISA Executive Committee from 2007 to 2010.