Political Science

The research at Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies includes both the main fields of political science and regional studies. Thanks to its geographical location and historical experience, the University of Tartu has a long-term competence in researching and interpreting the politics of the West and the East as well as the relationships between them. Additionally, the institute’s research focuses on the evaluation of the use and impact of information and communication technologies – democracy and governance in the digital era, e-voting and e-services across borders. Research and society are joined by the institute's work in the field of impact studies in applied and information technology.

The Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies explores many topics related to the state and society. But above all, we focus on people. To understand society better and more in-depth, we have the Centre for Applied Social Sciences (CASS), the Centre for Eurasian and Russian Studies and many interesting academic work groups to interpret societal changes and find solutions for vital issues. Professors, analysts and students join forces to find answers to why, how and where we should be moving forward. Our most-used keyword is “change”. We encourage, support and value taking initiative, finding solutions and innovative thinking. Similarly, we consider both the process and results to be important.

Main fields of research

• democracy, elections, governance (including e-governance and e-voting)
• identity, sovereignty and international relations
• politics of memory and transitional justice
• politics and history of the Baltics
• Eastern European and Russian Studies
• integration of Europe and transatlantic cooperation