Thread by @PetrOcelik

⚡️ *paper out* Happy to co-author a paper reflecting past 20 years of #politicalscience in #Czechia and #CEE published in European Political Science @ECPR together w Jakub Eberle, @HubertSmekal, and Oldřich Krpec. #academia #core #periphery Access: tinyurl.com/EPSPolSci [1/16]

We examine the developments of political science in Czechia and the post-communist CEE region in the past two decades through the lenses of two competing perspectives: *convergence* and *dependency*. [2/16]

The convergence perspective favored by liberal discourses assumes that “catching up” with excellent European political science is a question of time and effort invested since the academic market is flat and meritocratic. [3/16]

The dependency perspective highlights structural limitations of the convergence stemming from power asymmetries of the core-(semi)periphery arrangement making convergence unlikely as the dependent regions cannot rival the core in material, social, and cultural capital. [4/16]

Overview of the publication output in Web of Science, results in ERC grant competitions, and memberships in editorial boards of selected journals provide mixed results tilting in favor of the dependency perspective. [5/16]

The observed convergence is limited and prevailingly of a quantitative nature. For instance, Czechia outperformed Austria in terms of aggregate JIF publications, however, this was mainly due to its decisive lead in the number of Q4 publications (Fig. 2). [6/16]

Overall, although Czech-based, and CEE-based, scholars increasingly publish more and in higher-ranked journals, they still lag markedly in research excellence. [7/16]

There has not been a single highly cited (top 1%) paper published at the Czech-based institution (vs. 29, resp. 15 such papers published at Swedish, resp. Austrian institutions). [8/16]

Likewise, there were very few ERC grants awarded so far (Fig. 5) – also in comparison to the old European semi-periphery (Greece and Portugal in our sample). The CEE-based scholars are largely absent from the managing and editorial positions in JIF journals (Fig. 6). [9/16]

We argue that the convergence is further hindered by domestic factors at the level of *institutions* and *individual strategies*, which contribute to the reproduction of the semi-peripherality of the Czech, and CEE, (political) science. [10/16]

The diffusion of core-defined academic practices, as codified in national research evaluation policies, has facilitated the emergence of an institutional cleavage between “nationalists” and “internationalists”. [11/16]

While the “internationalists”, mostly younger cadres without managerial authorities, tend to be “genuine believers” in convergence striving for international recognition through networking and publication activities. [12/16]

The “nationalists”, usually older cadres in managerial positions, are primarily engaged with national audiences and often lack the motivation and/or abilities to build internationally competitive research teams. [13/16]

The semi-peripheral position is further internalized and reproduced mostly by “internationalists” also at the level of three individual strategies: remuneration, emulation, and individualization. [14/16]

The *remuneration* strategy is a utilitarian response to the performance-dependent salary incentives which favour emulation-based research ensuring steady publication and cash flows and discourage high-risk high-gain approaches. [15/16]

While *emulation* refers to copying the core-defined academic practices based on their affordances, *individualization* refers to single-handed efforts for an international breakthrough that lack the ambition to form research teams. [16/16]

Might be of interest for @HavlikVlastimil @medzihorsky @MiroslavNemcok @petrkaniok @al_horalistani @AnezkaKonvalin1 @drychnovska @evrop_anka @hansvavra @MartinJirusek @RQTurcsanyi @a_kluknavska @HamrikLukas @VitDostal @KMusilek @JaromirMazak @wercak @OHorkyHluchan @PolarBarbora