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Choosing sides in turbulent times: 1st GPREFCZSK Workshop on the study of individual geopolitical preferences

3 rd - 4 th March 2025
Institute for Sociology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava (Slovakia)

In a context of war in Europe and a world that seems increasingly divided into geopolitical blocs,
understanding what drives citizens to support one geopolitical bloc or another is a question of undeniable
academic and social relevance. Beyond Europe, geopolitical tensions have also increased in the rest of the
world, with China's increasing military pressure over Taiwan and the escalation of conflicts in the Middle
East. The GPREFCZSK project invites proposals for a workshop focused on exploring how individuals
choose their geopolitical orientations. Potential research questions in this regard could include (but are not
limited to): (1) the impact of the war in Ukraine (and other crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic, Israel's
invasion of Gaza, etc.) on individual geopolitical preferences, (2) geopolitical polarisation, causes and
consequences for European societies, (3) geopolitical orientations beyond Russia and EU/NATO (e.g.
geopolitical support/opposition to China, Israel, etc.), (4) new methods for the study geopolitical
preferences (experiments, longitudinal data, etc.), (5) the impact of disinformation and conspiracies on
geopolitical preferences, (6) ambivalent geopolitical preferences and their predictors.

The Choosing allies in turbulent times workshop, organised by the GPREFCZSK project (funded by the
Fellowships for Excellent Researchers R2-R4 programme) and the Institute of Sociology of the Slovak
Academy of Sciences, aims to bring together a group of about ten junior and senior scholars working on
the individual topics of geopolitical preferences / foreign policy preferences / support for the EU or other
international organisations from different disciplines (such as Political Science, Political Geography,
International Relations, Sociology, etc.), perspectives, and methods. Due to the objectives and
methodological scope of the GPREFCZSK project, the organizers will prioritize submissions that aim to
answer the proposed research questions by relying on a quantitative approach, nonetheless submissions
employing a qualitative methodology are also encouraged. The workshop will consist of paper presentations
and roundtable discussions to allow for a general discussion on the current state and future of the study of
geopolitical preferences.

More information is available in the enclosed call for papers.

Zoznam priložených súborov:
[ GPREFCZSK_Call_for_papers.pdf ]