Department of Political Science
Charles University, Faculty of Arts and Philosophy
U kříže 8, 158 00 Prague 5, Czech Republic,
email: upol@ff.cuni.cz

History

Department of political science on the faculty of philosophy was founded in the sixties of the past century, with Professor Theodor Syllaba becoming its first head. The institute contributed substantially to the establishment of the discipline of political science and to its development in former Czechoslovakia. As the period of normalization started, the institute was abolished in 1971. It was restored under democratic conditions in 1990. Prof. PhDr. Theodor Syllaba was appointed the head of the department again and Prof. Dr. Otto Pick came from abroad. Number of research workers returned from the original institute back to the department and representatives of the incoming generation of political scientists gradually asserted themselves: Associate Professor Jiří Kunc and Jiří Šedivý, PhD. In 1998 Prof. Dr. T. Syllaba, founder of the department, left due to health reasons and PhDr. Zdeněk Zbořil held a position of the department‘s director. In 2000 Associate Professor Milan Znoj became the head and within his presidency a generational change of teachers took place. Associate Professor Pavel Barša and Associate Professor Vratislav Doubek became a member of the department. Subsequently a younger generation of political scientists is appearing: PhDr. Jan Bureš, Mgr. Jan Jireš, PhDr. Martina Lustigová. The department started cooperation with the Institute for Contemporary History and the focus on the political theory and historical approches in the political science strengthened.

Profile and Specialization

From the early beginning the department focused on the studies of the political theory, Czech politics, international relations and the importance of the comparative political science was growing. Currently the main subject of the scientific interest are the questions related to the development of democracy: its theoretical grounds, studies of the transitions to democracy, especially then the Czech experience from the building up of democracy, the past together with the present and the development of democracy in the international context. The guarantees of the particular specializations are: Associate Professor Milan Znoj – political philosophy, Associate Professor Pavel Barša – theory of international relations, Associate Professor Vratislav Doubek – Czech politics, Associate Professor Jiří Kunc – comparative political science.

Study Programs

The aim of study is to train academically educated professionals in the field of political science with the emphasis on the political theory and contemporary history.
All study programs can be taken only in the present form, the tuition is held in Czech language and there is a need to sit for the entrance examination in order to be admitted to study.
We Offer Following Programs:
a) Primarily it is the bachelor program of political science, which takes three years, and it is finished by the bachelor’s exam.
b) Two-year masters program continuing in the previous one is focused on the political theories and contemporary history and allows a student to finish the tertiary education and to obtain a masters degree (this program has already gained its accreditation but we do not offer it for now because there is still five-year masters program running down and there are not the graduates of the three-year bachelor study available).
c) At the same time the old five-year masters study program of political science is still running. Now we offer just a two-field study, which provides a possibility to combine a political science study with other fields of study at the Faculty of Philosophy.
d) There is a possibility to continue in the education in terms of postgraduate doctor study that is provided together with the Institute for Contemporary History of the Academy of Science, Czech Republic.

EDIT 2009: List of courses in English:
Contemporary Central-European Politics: Transformation of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic
Memory and Trauma
National Memories of the Holocaust