KonKoop Network

We at the Chair of International Relations of the Friedrich Schiller University are glad to announce that we are now a member of the Cooperation and Conflict in Eastern Europe (KonKoop) research network.

The network is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), and it consists of six research institutes that will cooperate in the next four years (2022-2025) to connect and advance research carried out in Germany on conflict in Eastern Europe . The members of KonKoop are:

• Center for East European and International Studies ( ZOiSExternal link ) - Coordinator
• Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies in Regensburg ( IOSExternal link )
• Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography in Leipzig ( IfLExternal link )
• Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development ( HNEEExternal link )
• Leibniz Center for Contemporary History in Potsdam ( ZZFExternal link )
• Chair of International Relations at Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU Jena)

KonKoop aims to explain and understand the dynamics of conflict and cooperation in Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet space - a region that has been a focus of peace and conflict research for many years. Nowhere else in the world since the end of the Cold War have there been so many violent conflicts and wars related to secession and the contestation of borders. Russia's war on Ukraine is the latest reminder of this volatility and instability rooted among others in the imperfect dissolution of the Soviet Union and in even older grievances from the region's turbulent history.

Friedrich Schiller University Jena's contribution to the KonKoop network is two-fold. First, Prof. Dr. Rafael Biermann, the Chair of International Relations at the university, is a member of the network's Steering Committee. As such, he contributes to strategic and operational decision making as well as partakes in the coordination and organization of the major events of KonKoop. Second, Geza Tasner - a research associate at the Chair - is a member of KonKoop's multi-local junior research group. His doctoral project about strategic competition of patrons in secessionist conflicts will be incorporated in KonKoop's data and visualization laboratories and he also contributes to the organization and delivery of the network's workshops, colloquiums and other events.

For further information, please see the official websiteExternal link of KonKoop.