Daniel (Dima) Course
Ph.D. Political Science student at Bar-Ilan University (Israel). He was awarded Presidential Scholarship to conduct his Dissertation on „Ideological and Political Currents and their Influence on the Design and Implementation of Russian Foreign Policy in the 2000s“. In 2007 he completed BA degree in Political Science – IR & Strategy, and in 2010 his MA degree in Political Science – Strategic Studies, Intelligence and National Security (Magna cum laude). From January to November 2012 he is studying in Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic. His main areas of study and interest are: a) Russian foreign and security policies, ideological and political currents, radicalism and ethnic conflicts, b) Israeli political developments: political situation, economic trends, security and anti-terror issues.
Jiří Suchánek
Graduate of the Political Science and Security and Strategic Studies Bachelor´s programme and Security and Strategic Studies Master´s programme at the Faculty of Social Science of Masaryk´s University in Brno where he is currently enrolled as a PhD candidate. Jiří has worked as an analyst for the civic association Naši politici o.s. since February 2012. He is also an author of numerous articles and expert works that were published in academic journals and books. His research is focussed on the contemporary People´s Republic of China, in particular on security and political issues, including democratization, energy security and security relations. In his spare time he studies warfare and military history. He is co-author and editor of the military history websites www.vvpdedice.net and www.nezradime.cz and vice-chairman of civic association VHS Stříbrná o.s.
Yuri Teper
Ph.D. Political Science student at Bar-Ilan University (Israel). He was awarded Presidential Scholarship to conduct his Dissertation on „Nationalism and Political Culture in Symbols and Myths in Putin’s Russia: 1999-2010“. After graduating Public Communications BA degree (with distinction) in 2004 and Diploma studies in Journalism & Communications in 2005, in 2008 he has completed a comparative MA study on “The Inadequacies of Political Systems as Triggers to Civil Wars in Yugoslavia and Lebanon”. These two countries remain since then among his focuses of interest. Yuri has also been a teaching assistant and a visiting lecturer at various courses in Bar-Ilan University and a researcher in the university-based Religion and State project, examining and analyzing governments’ religion policy over the world. His main areas of study are national and political identities, political systems and cultures, the Eurasian space, Israeli and the Middle Eastern affairs.
Karel Svoboda
Karel Svoboda (1979) received his Ph.D. in Modern history at Charles University in Prague in 2010. Currently, he is a Fulbright fellow at the University of Rochester, where he among other things teaches the course “Political economy of post-communist world.” While he was working at the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic from 2007 to 2008, he was the head of the unit dealing with relations with countries outside the European Union and with relations with international financial organizations. In his professional life, he concentrates on economic affairs in the post-Soviet world. He has published tens of papers on the subject. Furthermore, he has successfully solved several grants for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia’s capital impact on Ukraine, Russia’s accession to the WTO).
Claudiu Degeratu
Claudiu holds MA degree in Sociology from University of Bucharest where he is currently enrolled as a PhD candidate in Sociology with a thesis on social capital and security and defence policy in EU. In the past, he participated on Senior Executive Courses at the Geneva Center on Security Policy (1999-2000) and George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies (1998). He also works as a researcher at The National Institute for the Study of Totalitarism, Romanian Academy and holds a chairmanship of CENCOOP Steering Committee – Central European Countries Initiative and Steering Committee – The Multinational Standby High-Readiness Brigade for United Nations Operations. In the period 2006-2009 served as a Head of Defence Section at the Romania Permanent Delegation to NATO HQ, Bruxelles. From 2004 to 2006 worked as a Political Director (Under Secretary of State) for Defense and Planning Policy ROU MOD. He also led Institute for Defense Studies and Military History, ROU MOD as a Security Studies Director (2000-2004) and worked as a Deputy Director at Pol-Mil Analysis Directorate, ROU MOD (1997-2000). He is regular commentator at at the National Radio Broadcasting – Euroatlantica Programme where he provides live commentaries on European and Euroatlantic Security agenda.
Interns
Daniela Vergara Rivera
BA International Relations student at Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Puebla, Mexico. During 2012, she concluded Diploma studies on Latin American Political Thought, and in Paradiplomacy from the same university. She currently resides in Prague, where among other things, studies National security and asymmetric threats, Energy Security, and Military interventions in international politics. Daniela is an intern for the Mexican Foreign Affairs Service.