On March 15, 2025, Dr. István Stumpf was awarded the Széchenyi Prize. On behalf of the entire Institute, we extend our heartfelt congratulations to our retired Senior Research Fellow!
Mid-term strategic plan of the Institute for Political Science (summary)
Leading the way in domestic political science: the Institute for Political Science has achieved outstanding publication performance in international journals between 2019 and 2022
About our Institute
The primary objective of the Institute for Political Science of the Centre for Social Sciences (CSS) is to conduct basic research in political science. Researchers at the Institute conduct both theoretical and empirical research, and the results are disseminated to both the academic and general public at scientific and professional forums.
Latest news
The Institute for Political Science, Centre for Social Sciences is launching a scholarship programme for BA, MA and PhD students to support scientific work in political science.
New paper by Ana Stojilovska et al.: As essential as bread: Fuelwood use as a cultural practice to cope with energy poverty in Europe has been published in Energy Research & Social Science.
István Stumpf's new book entitled "Paradigm Shift in Constitutionalism" has been published by Gondolat Kiadó.
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New paper by Zsófia Papp and G.B. Nkansah: The political component of COVID-19 vaccine choice. Results from a conjoint experiment has been published in Public Health.
As energy prices are increasing, the issue of energy poverty becomes even more relevant. How are European countries considering energy poverty in policies? Ana Stojilovska, Research Fellow at the Institute for Political Science led a group of researchers to explore whether, how, and why policy documents in Spain, France, Portugal, the UK, North Macedonia, and Slovenia link energy poverty to other related policy areas. The study was published in Energy Policy with an impact factor of 7.576. The paper has been prepared within the framework of the COST-funded ENGAGER network
The paper "Riding the Covid waves: authoritarian socio-economic responses of east central Europe’s anti-liberal governments" by Gergő Medve-Bálint is published in East European Politics.
‘Morality in Political and Public Debates. What is Beyond Moral Framing?’ – Special Issue of American Behavioral Scientist (ABS)
Guest editors: Gabriella Szabó (Centre for Social Sciences, Budapest, Hungary) and Sergei Samoilenko (George Mason University)
This special issue seeks to contribute to the academic discussion of morality and moral regulation in politicized debates by focusing on interdisciplinary research in sociology, behavioral sciences, political communication, and related fields.
The paper "When Ideology Matters More - Science and Vaccine Scepticism in Light of Political Ideologies and Partisanship during the Third COVID-19 Wave in Hungary." by Eszter Farkas, Balázs Böcskei and Andrea Szabó is published in Politics in Central Europe.
The article titled "The roots of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: evidence from Hungary", written by András Bíró-Nagy and András József Szászi is now available in the Journal of Behavioural Medicine.
Csaba Békés's new book entitled "Hungary's Cold War: International Relations from the End of World War II to the Fall of the Soviet Union" by University of North Carolina Press.
Latest posts
The latest post of the pti memo blog series offers insights from a thought-provoking lecture by Murat Somer, Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Özyeğin University Istanbul and Research Affiliate at the Democracy Institute of the Central European University. Titled "Quo Vadis in Turkey and Implications for Democracy in the World", the lecture explored current political developments in Turkey and their broader implications on combating democratic backsliding. The event took place on May 8, 2025, as part of the HUN-REN CSS Institute for Political Science’s Speaker Series.
The third blog post of the pti memo series summarises the lecture of Dr. Matthew Edward Bergman, Assistant Professor at Corvinus University of Budapest, titled “Ideological Conflict, Logrolling, and Policy Reform: An Analysis of Government Declarations in Western Europe.” The event was organised as part of the HUN-REN Institute for Political Science’s Speaker Series on April 10, 2025. This research, conducted jointly with Hanna Bäck (Lund University) and Wolfgang C. Müller (Universität Wien), investigates why some governments commit to more reform measures in their government declarations.
The second pti memo post summarises the lecture by Bálint Magyar and Bálint Madlovics, researchers at the CEU Democracy Institute, titled “The Russia-Ukraine War and Its Structural Consequences.” The event was organised as part of the HUN-REN Institute for Political Science’s Speaker Series on February 6, 2025.
Hungary is often portrayed as a problem case for European integration due to frequent clashes between Viktor Orbán’s government and the EU’s institutions. Yet, as András Bíró-Nagy and Gergő Medve-Bálint explain in their post on the LSE EUROPP blog, the country’s 20 years in the EU have also seen a relatively high level of compliance with EU policies and strong support for membership among the public.
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In the first pti memo post, we summarise Christian Baden’s (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) thought-provoking lecture titled “Propaganda as a Social Process.” The lecture was hosted by the HUN-REN Institute for Political Science as part of its Speaker Series event series on January 23, 2025.
