Legal Culture in the EPR Area: Realizing a priority of the Austrian Foreign Trade Concept, this project attempts at generating awareness and knowledge about the prevailing legal culture in the 6 states covered by the EU Eastern Partnership and in Russia. The project traces fundamental attitudes towards the law and legal institutions by an analysis of current legal practice.

Adoption and Implementation of the European Charter of Basic Rights (ECBR) in Kazakhstan: This project is conducted jointly by ICEUR and the IWEP (Institute of World Economy and Politics, Almaty). It explores the possibility to adopt the ECBR and to determine the legal, financial, political and organizational prerequisites for its implementation.

Muslim identity in an open society: the case of Chechen refugees in Austria: As a part of a forthcoming ICEUR publication (cf. PUBLICATIONS-Malashenko/Lobova/Heinrich, eds.), this project generates empirical data on the dynamics of religious attitudes and traditions by conducting exploratory expert interviews as well as a survey among Chechen refugees in various Austrian regions. The results will yield insights into processes of acculturation, integration and attitudinal change.

Problems and practices in EU-Russian business: This project is conducted in the framework of the Vienna Process and based on a poll taken among companies doing business in Russia. It is supported by the Federation of Austrian Industries as well as European companies and is designed to identify crucial points of intervention and smart solutions for smoother business interactions. In contrast to previous similar studies, Russian companies are invited to comment on the poll results and to present their recommendations.

Russian concepts of state and law: As a first issue of the ICEUR Insight Studies (cf. PUBLICATIONS), this study traces the origins and dynamic of distinct Russian approaches to state and law. Prestigious Russian authors have agreed to contribute articles to this issue.

Series „ICEUR Dialogstudien zur euro-russischen Ideengeschichte“
Format:
• Each volume of the ICEUR Insight Studies is bilingual (Russian, German)
• Lenght of contributions:approximately 30 pages (net text)
• Publisher: BoD (www.bod.de) “Books on Demand”
• KickOff-Seminar in Vienna – March, 2010.

Volume 1: Stadler (Hg): „Russische Demokratie in der Krise. Zu Wesen und Wert der „Gelenkten Demokratie“.
(Contr.1) Ideengeschichtliche Wurzeln der Russischen Demokratie in der Tradition des klassisch russischen Staatsdenkens (Prof. W. Kantor)
(Contr.2) Ideengeschichtliche Wurzeln der Russischen Demokratie in der Tradition des sowjetischen Staatsdenkens (Prof. A. Logunov)
(Contr.3) Evolutionäres Potenzial der Russischen Demokratie in der postatlantischen Welt des 21. Jahrhundert (G. Pavlovski)
(Contr.4) Russische Demokratie als Moment der Ideengeschichte europäischer Demokratie (Stadler)

  PROJECTS UNDER EXPERT REVIEW

Kazakhstan in Flux: Chances for Europe (OeNB: Jubiläumsfonds, November 2009, directed by Dr. Erhard Busek). The main objective of this project is a comprehensive in-depth analysis of the economic, societal and political components of Kazakh developmental dynamics, particularly against the backdrop of the Kazakh OSCE presidency during 2010. A joint team of experts will analyse the actual and potential impact and the radiant influence of this development on the entire Central Asian region. Channels of deepened European-Kazakh economic cooperation will be identified.

The Elites in Belarus and their Attitudes Towards Democratization, Economic Liberalization and Closer Relations With the EU (FWF, 2009, directed by Hans-Georg Heinrich). This project studies the attitudes of Belarusian elites (officials, opposition groups, entrepreneurs and industrialists as well as intellectuals) toward democracy, EU-Belarusian cooperation, economic liberalization and privatization by means of a comprehensive empirical study. Empirical analysis is to generate a knowledge basis which is to enable national and European decision makers to better understand the dynamics of shifting attitudes and elite interests in Belarus in order to evaluate the influence of these groups on future developments.

Totalitarianism, Populism and Democracy (7. EU FP for Research, Technological Development, Coordinator: Institut für Höhere Studien (IHS), February 2010). The project plans an empirically-based analysis of the three ideological positions which are viewed as cultural enclaves in the framework of Cultural Theory (Douglas/Thompson/Ellis/Wildavsky). Field research covers EU countries as well as the post-Soviet space.