The Center for Policy Studies (CPS) is an academic unit within Central European University, dedicated to improving the quality of governance in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union by the provision of independent public policy analysis and advice.
The center believes that the experiences of post-socialist transition can be usefully shared with countries enduring great social transformation, but that the translation of these local experiences requires a sound appreciation of policy contexts. The center is committed to strengthen local capacity for critical policy analysis and to pursue research projects and publication that draw on its existing multi-disciplinary resources from law, economics, political science and sociology but also from its connections with open society driven partners. The center conduct interdisciplinary research projects in cooperation with both Central European University and external partners from Europe and beyond on a wide range of topics within four broad research programs (see following). Each program benefits from expertise of CPS staff and a network of external researchers, and usually includes several ongoing research projects. Its research is comparative, methodologically diverse and policy oriented, and provides critical perspectives on the formulation, production and implementation of public policy.
Areas of research Equality and Social Justice. Since its launch, CPS has been active in the broader field of social diversity and policy responses to status based inequalities. Research and capacity building efforts within the center have mainly concerned gender, disability, ethnicity and race and multiple disadvantages resulting from the intersection of these inequality grounds. The activities within the unit focus on a series of topics such as educational segregation, policy responses to intersecting inequalities and violence against women including domestic violence and trafficking, theory and practice of gender mainstreaming, the impact of the economic crisis on equality policies, radical right ideologies and their implications for equality policies. The center addresses these topics both as research themes and as subjects for policy analysis and capacity building. Since 2003, the center carried out various research projects under the research field. As of 2019, there are four ongoing research projects: Gender Equality Academy (GE Academy), Future Challenges to Education Systems in Central Eastern European Context (EDUC), Building Resilience Against Violent Extremism and Polarisation (BRaVE) and Employment of non-local temporary workers and its impact on local industrial relations in the Hungarian automotive industry.https://cps.ceu.edu/research/local-industrial-relations The details and related publications are available and updated on the CPS website.
Governance and Participation. CPS advocates that good governance needs to address contemporary forms of representation and participation which are pertinent to the responsiveness of state and private institutions but also the institutional basis for vulnerable people to claim rights and services. The unit's research examines how non-traditional policy actors shape policy processes, how implementation agencies consultative bodies combine state and non-state actors, and offer voice for vulnerable groups and how transnational advocacy networks influence policy development.
Social Policy and Welfare Regimes. The CPS applies its cross-sectoral and multi-actor approaches to address outstanding issues of social policy development in European and post-socialist contexts, often embedding those issues in wider global debates. The Center has developed expertise and gained recognition in investigating interethnic relations in educational systems and policies. It has engaged in larger comparative research projects on European labor markets with special attention to labor market integration of different vulnerable and often discriminated social groups, such as the Roma, migrants, and refugees. Inter-ethnic relations, gender equality, and intergenerational justice issues are investigated in the context of shifting care regimes in Europe. The CPS is also engaged in studying the transformation of labor relations, labor representation, and the governance structure of multinational companies and their subsidiaries in Central and Eastern Europe.
Territory and Development Policy. CPS believes that uneven economic development is a cross-cutting field which analyses processes which create major spatial inequalities within between countries. With a special focus on urban/rural divides and the creation of left behind zones, this field of research offers a comparative study of domestic, national and European policy responses.
Publications CPS Books The book collection of institutional publications of the Center for Policy Studies include the volumes edited and published by the Center for Policy Studies.
Gendering Democratic Backsliding in Central and Eastern Europe. A comparative agenda, 2019: This book aims to map gendered aspects of the decline in democracy in four countries in the Central and Eastern European region: Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Romania. It adopts a dual focus. First, it looks at how processes of de-democratization affect previously established gender equality rights and what forms gender policy backsliding takes in the region. It scrutinizes how governments operate to block or reverse gender equality policies and what specific policy fields or issues are most under attack. Are policies actively removed or do we see more subtle dismantling strategies? Also, it explores if these dynamics and mechanisms are country specific or whether similar patterns across countries could be found? Second, it examines how these developments affect defenders and promoters of gender rights. How do women movements respond to these attacks? Do they change strategies? Do they falter in hostile conditions or we see resistance, maturing, diversifying coalition capacities? What do the anti-gender attacks and hostile states mean for movement capacities and strategies? Introduction provides a conceptual framework for the analysis. Separate chapters discuss gendered dynamics of de-democratization in the four countries.
Challenging the Political Across Borders: Migrants’ and Solidarity Struggles, 2019: The book examines the practices, structures, and meanings of solidarity with and by migrants and refugees in Europe and beyond. Bringing together empirical, conceptual and historical insights, the volume interrogates struggles unfolding on the ground and situates them within a critical analysis of historical and current mobility regimes, and how these have been resisted.
Child Trafficking in Hungary: Sexual Exploitation, Forced Begging and Pickpocketing, 2015: This study explores the mechanisms of three forms of child trafficking in Hungary – begging, pickpocketing and sexual exploitation of children – by focusing on Roma victims. It presents available statistical data on human trafficking and sheds light on some of the major difficulties of data collection regarding human trafficking and child trafficking in particular. It gives an overview of the anti-human trafficking and anti-child trafficking policy frameworks, and it tries to reveal what factors lead to victimisation and how recruitment and exploitation of children actually take place. The study then looks into how the identification of victims, the referral mechanism, and the victim assistance systems all work. Finally, it identifies shortcomings in the criminal processes and the judicial system that undermine effective countering of child trafficking.
Mobilizing for Policy Change: Women's Movements in Central and Eastern European Domestic Violence Policy Struggles, 2015: The aim of this edited volume is to explore and understand the influence of women's movement mobilization on domestic violence policy change in Central and Eastern Europe. his volume addresses a series of questions: what are the dynamics that led to movement successes in the region? Which movements and the strategies they adopt are successful in promoting progressive policy change? Why do some movements manage to secure policy change that is women's rights friendly, while others lose control beyond setting the agenda? How do alliances, institutionalization and framing make a difference? And how patterns of achieving policy influence resemble or differ from patterns found in Western post-industrialized states? Are Central and Eastern European domestic violence policy processes any different? The book develops a theoretical framework explaining the links between mobilization and change, followed by the portrayal of in-depth case studies on Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, and Romania.
Different Horizons: Aid, Trade and Official Development Assistance in Hungary, 2014: The book focuses on the constantly changing nature of state development assistance through Turkey, Brazil and Venezuela and the central and eastern members of the European Union. It posits that some of these new donors were themselves recipients of grant, cheap loans and technical assistance. Their status as emerging democracies or transition countries gives them an alternative perspective on development co-operation and external support, and for some of the more established international development organizations, this can translate into a different kind of solidarity, less tinged with ambivalent post-colonial relations. In this context, the book explores who are these new development actors and how far are they working to traditional models of development assistance and support? What is the actual meaning of partnership within countries and between countries? How does one country get to be a priority partner and what does the general public think of all these efforts to improve living standards abroad?
Faces and Causes of Roma Marginalization in Local Contexts: Hungary, Romania, Serbia, 2014: The research endeavor explored the key factors perpetuating Roma marginalization at the municipal and community level in three countries of Central and Eastern Europe: Hungary, Romania and Serbia. It sought to analyze the economic, political, demographic, and social forces at local level which shape practices and consequences of social exclusion and potential pathways to inclusion. A multi-layered approach was designed to implement this research idea: the locality (municipality) of ethnically mixed communities composed the first level; the Roma communities, neighborhoods or segments of selected localities were examined as the second level; and inter-ethnic relations within the selected localities were identified as the third level of the research approach. This volume presents the country studies and a comparative analysis about local communities that mobilize a variety of means and actions to either maintain clear-cut ethnic distinctions or to move toward a certain degree of inclusion.