ZOiS Medium-Term Research Plan (2024–2030)
Strategic Vision and Positioning
The Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS) is an independent, international and interdisciplinary research institute. We focus on social science research on Eastern Europe and combine first-hand multi-method data collection with theory-led data analysis and a commitment to communicating research beyond the academic realm.
We aim to contribute to a greater visibility of empirically grounded area studies in the social sciences and the enrichment of social science research on Eastern Europe with perspectives from adjacent disciplines. ZOiS ensures that a wide range of disciplines is represented among its researchers (currently political science, political economy, sociology, geography, anthropology, cultural studies). Multi- and interdisciplinary exchange forms part of our research projects and many of our daily interactions at ZOiS. Through collaborative projects, we also position ourselves as a key player in the study of Eastern Europe in Germany and internationally.
ZOiS research and research communication are guided by a number of principles: empirical data collection; innovation in research methods; a commitment to cooperating with researchers in and from Eastern Europe and engaging with different perspectives, concepts and practices; a desire to incorporate dimensions of diversity in our research projects and practices and critically reflect one’s positionality; and a self-reflective process about research ethics within and beyond ZOiS. In addition to a commitment to excellent academic research, ZOiS researchers regularly communicate their findings to non-academic audiences, in particular policymakers and the wider public. We develop tailor-made formats for different sets of national and international policymakers and communicate with public audiences through active media engagement, innovative in- house formats, and participation in civic education activities and outreach events in cooperation with partner institutions, including cultural institutions and civil society organisations. ZOiS functions as a hub linking universities, research institutes, think tanks, foundations and other organisations in Berlin and Brandenburg.
ZOiS works with a flexible geographical and thematic definition of ‘Eastern Europe’, encompassing the region from Central and Eastern Europe to the South Caucasus and Central Asia. Many projects adopt comparative or transregional/transnational perspectives – both in our own research and collaborations with partners. Our research there- fore does not evolve primarily on a country-by-country basis.
Building on the research conducted at ZOiS in its founding phase from 2016 to 2023, we continue to harness our strengths in investigating bottom-up perspectives and agency across the wider region of Eastern Europe in relation to a variety of political, economic and social dynamics at the local, national, regional, and international level. This approach enables a deeper understanding of the linkages between domestic and international developments.
Our research is organised into five research clusters:
- Societies between Stability and Change
- Conflict Dynamics and Border Regions
- Migration and Diversity
- Youth and Generational Change
- Political Economy and Integration
Each research cluster assembles researchers at different stages of their academic careers and combines different disciplinary and methodological approaches. Cross-cutting projects, often supported by external research grants, create additional links between the research clusters. In our five research clusters, we analyse the following themes:
- Societies between Stability and Change: societal attitudes and mobilisation in authoritarian (e.g. Belarus, Russia) and democratic/democratising settings (e.g. Ukraine, Armenia, Moldova); state-society relations; social, political and discursive networks underpinning regime stability or change; different types of discourses shaping the legitimation of or opposition to regimes (e.g. literature, church, gender, resources, local vs. national government, minorities).
- Conflict Dynamics and Border Regions: conflict dynamics with regard to de facto states and contested territories (e.g. Transnistria, South Ossetia, Abkhazia) and border regions in Eastern Europe with a special focus on everyday practices, trust building between the conflict parties, (political) identities, religion, education, perceptions of in/security, and dynamics along and across (contested) borders; displacement within and from Ukraine as a result of war.
- Migration and Diversity: migratory processes in and from Eastern Europe; the formation of diasporic communities and their social, political and economic impacts on origin and host countries; migrants and their descendants as non-state actors; transnational networks and changing values; governance of migration-driven diversity, and migrants’ social and political activism ‘from below’ and its effects on national and transnational belonging.
- Youth and Generational Change: the position of young people in political processes in Eastern Europe (both as a political subject and as an object of state policy); intergenerational change and continuity regarding social and political attitudes in Eastern Europe itself as well as among communities with a Soviet- Russian background abroad; historical memory among and as articulated for young people; new media and its relationship to young people’s identity.
- Political Economy and Integration: development paths at the level of local sectors, companies and infrastructure projects and how they are affected by economic (dis-)integration in Eastern Europe (e.g. in the context of European integration, the Belt and Road Initiative and regarding the resilience of the Russian economy in the context of Western sanctions); political effects of economic (dis)integration.
Thematic focus
Building on the strengths of our first research programme (2016–2023) and in light of the current socio-political context, three sets of themes are at the centre of ZOiS research in the period from 2024 to 2030:
- Democratisation-Autocratisation
- Mobility- Immobility
- Security-Insecurity
Each of these conceptual pairs moves beyond simple dichotomies and maps a dynamic field of interactions within varying structural settings. Through these themes, ZOiS aims to make insights from research on Eastern Europe fruitful for broader theoretical debates in the study of democracy and authoritarianism, peace and conflict/war studies, and migration and development studies.
Along the democratisation-autocratisation axis, we study social, political and economic dynamics that undermine or facilitate democratic or autocratic developments. These include interactions between state institutions and society at the local, national and international levels of governance, patterns of social and political mobilisation, socialisation through state policies, governance of diversity, attitudes towards changing regime dynamics, and the political effects of (forced) migration and market (dis-)integration.
The concept of (im)mobility refers to people, goods and (political) ideas. We focus on a variety of migration dynamics and the various settings in which migration occurs, but also on how Russia’s war of aggression is shaping different kinds of (im)mobility and exchanges. Ideas circulate alongside and beyond physical mobility and shape perceptions and narratives, political action and policymaking. Some ideas circulate freely or find outlets under restrictive conditions; others are deliberately suppressed.
In relation to security-insecurity, ZOiS works with a concept of (in)security that includes political, economic, resource- and identity-related conditions under which (in)security evolves for states, groups of actors and/or individuals. The securitisation of discourses and social interactions are an important dimension of these dynamics. (In)security is thus examined not only from a state-led, multilateral or military perspective but also includes perspectives from vernacular (in)security. Russia’s war against Ukraine highlights the need to understand the interaction between different dimensions of (in)security.
Our empirical research on the wider region of Eastern Europe and experience in research communication put us in a strong position to address issues related to Russia’s war against Ukraine and its far-reaching consequences. Our previous, ongoing and new projects allow us to make timely contributions to academic debates and respond to an increased demand for expertise in public discourse and national and international policymaking. The repercussions of Russia’s war against Ukraine across Eastern Europe and beyond affect all ZOiS research projects irrespective of their thematic or country-specific focus. It is our ambition to establish ZOiS as the German social science research institute that deals most comprehensively with the many political, social, economic and security-related consequences of the war for Ukraine, a range of state and non-state actors in the wider region, transregional/transnational linkages, and global interde- pendencies in the period from 2024 to 2030. The war is an important aspect of the context that all ZOiS projects speak to, even if it is not the central explanatory horizon of every project.
Socio-political relevance, empirical rigour, and a clear link to the core conceptual themes are the key selection criteria behind our decisions on new projects, the continuation or adjustment of ongoing projects, and the further development of the five research clusters. At the same time, we commit ourselves to a regular review of our priorities during the period of this research programme in order to react to developments or opportunities that could strengthen or widen our profile.
Given the growing need for empirical evidence and conceptual framing for policymaking and the wider public discourse about political, social and economic developments in Eastern Europe and their broader regional and global implications, ZOiS will step up its efforts to make research communication an integral part of every research project and the training of researchers.