Tag Archives: Normes & transgressions

CEFRES Team

Magdaléna Hadjiisky – Research & CV

Everyday Experiences of Politics: A Study in Two Ordinary Cities in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic

Research Areas 2 and 3: Norms & Transgressions and Objects, Traces, Mapping: Everyday Experience of Spaces

Contact: mhadjiisky@cefres.cz

A Senior Lecturer in Political Science at Sciences Po Strasbourg since September 2005, Magdaléna Hadjiisky teaches comparative politics, the Sociology of International Relations and European Studies. Both her teaching and her research focus on the processes of creating and representing the political and the public sphere, with a dual empirical specialisation centred on Central and Eastern Europe and international organisations.

In recent years, she has been in charge of the Master’s programme in European and International Studies at Sciences Po Strasbourg, as well as the new specialisation created in 2024 (‘European Politics and Governance’). She founded the Observatory of European Political Societies, for which she holds the position of scientific director. https://mastereurope.fr/observatoire/.

Her time at CEFRES will be devoted to a new area of research in her career: the analysis of secular politics in smaller towns. She will conduct her empirical research through observation, documentary analysis and interviews in the two towns selected for this project, in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. In line with one of CEFRES’s missions – which is to build networks between researchers in France and the Czech Republic, as well as in other Central European countries – she plans to organise academic events on the theme of ‘Secular Experiences of Politics: European Perspectives’, with the aim of facilitating exchange between researchers from France, Central Europe and the Balkans.

Hadjiisky’s research career began at CEFRES and in the Czech Republic. Defended at Sciences Po Paris, her thesis, “From Citizen Mobilisation to Party Democracy: Political Participation and Delegation in the New Czech Democracy (1989–1996)”, analyses the social and political mobilisations and demobilisations that accompanied the political transformation and the demand for democracy in the Czech Republic between 1989 and the mid-1990s.

The research that formed the basis of this work required learning the Czech language (at INALCO and then at Česká škola in Prague) and a research fellowship at CEFRES from 1994 to 1997, in order to carry out fieldwork in Prague, Brno and Ostrava. Combining the sociology of mobilization with the localised sociology of partisan circles, this research analyses the collective actions of 1989 and 1990 in the Czech lands, the emergence and internal evolution of the Civic Forum, its paradoxical partial transformation into the ODS, alongside the gradual ‘partisanisation’ of the Czech political scene in the 1990s. This research has resulted in several publications in French, English and Czech (Hadjiisky, 1999, 2001a, 2007a, 2007c, 2008b, 2008c, 2005a, 2011, 2019a).

At the same time, Hadjiisky has developed a second area of specialisation focusing on the transformations of the post-communist state, through research into the (short-lived) reform of the Czech civil service in the 1990s and 2000s. Although seemingly technical, the question surrounding the status of the central civil service takes on considerable political significance in the post-communist context. She analyses the morphology of the state and its place in society as indicators that reflect the transformation of the frameworks through which the political and the communal are understood in post-socialist societies (Hadjiisky, 2004). In exploring this area of research, Hadjiisky has examined the role played by certain international actors, as well as the context of pre-accession to the European Union, in shaping the way in which civil service reform was carried out in the Czech Republic (Hadjiisky, 2007b, 2008d).

Her subsequent work led her to the sociology of international relations, with a view to situating political change within its relationship to international directives and support (Hadjiisky, 2020a, 2017a, 2017b, 2023). By studying in detail the work of the SIGMA (Support for Improvement in Governance and Management) programme (Hadjiisky, 2017e) and the emergence of the OECD’s PUMA (Public Management) Programme (Hadjiisky, 2016a, 2017c), she sought to capture the gradual transformation of a democratic state project into an expert-led endeavour – a process she had previously explored in her thesis by reconstructing the dynamics of the actors mobilised in Prague, Brno and Ostrava. As with her doctoral thesis, she has focused her empirical research on actors at the middle hierarchy level – those ‘go-betweens’ through whom the narrative becomes real, moves beyond pre-constructed teleological narratives, and reintroduces uncertainty and randomness, even within institutionally constrained environments.

By uncovering certain paradoxes and tensions within international aid, her research – like her teaching at Sciences Po Strasbourg – has encouraged her to return to Central and Eastern Europe to continue exploring the various meanings, practices and uses of ‘democracy’. Thus, having explored democracy and the rule of law in the Czech national and political context, and subsequently from the perspective of their international expert assessment within the OECD and SIGMA-EU, she now wishes to analyse everyday politics within secular social contexts, in order to compare Central and Eastern European social transformations with international imperatives and, ultimately, to offer a reflection on the tensions within contemporary European governance.

CV

EDUCATION

2004 : Doctorat de science politique, Institut d’Etudes Politiques (I.E.P.) de Paris, Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (C.E.R.I.).

Intitulé de la thèse : De la mobilisation citoyenne à la démocratie de partis. Participation et délégation politiques dans la nouvelle démocratie tchèque (1989-1996), sous la direction de Jacques Rupnik, directeur de recherche au C.E.R.I., F.N.S.P.

Jury de soutenance : Jean-Michel DE WAELE, Professeur de science politique, Université Libre de Bruxelles ; Pierre GREMION, Directeur de recherche au CNRS, Centre de sociologie des organisations ; Erik NEVEU, Professeur de science politique, IEP de Rennes ; Miroslav NOVÁK, Professeur de science politique à l’Université Charles (Prague)

Mention très honorable avec félicitations du jury à l’unanimité et soutien à la publication, accompagnée du label « thèse européenne ».

1998 : Boursière Robert Schuman de la Fondation Robert Schuman, Paris.

1997 : Boursière Lavoisier du Ministère français des Affaires étrangères, Paris.

1993 – 1997 : Séjour de recherches doctorales en République Tchèque accueillie au Centre français de recherche en sciences sociales (C.E.F.R.E.S.), Prague.

1993 : D.E.A. de science politique, I.E.P. de Paris, cycle d’Etudes est-européennes.

Titre du mémoire : L’imaginaire de l’Occident chez les migrants potentiels bulgares après 1989, dirigé par Anne de Tinguy (C.E.R.I.), Mention très bien avec félicitations du jury.

1993 : Maîtrise de science politique, Université Paris I – Sorbonne.

CAREER PATH

Since 2005 :

Maîtresse de Conférences en Science Politique à l’Université de Strasbourg (Sciences Po Strasbourg)

Membre du laboratoire SAGE (Sociétés, Acteurs, Gouvernement en Europe, UMR 7363 – CNRS-Université de Strasbourg), hébergé à la MISHA (Maison Interuniversitaire des Sciences de l’Homme d’Alsace, USR 3227).

2024-2026 : Co-Responsable du Parcours Politique européenne et Gouvernances (GOV) du Master 2 Etudes européennes et internationales, Sciences Po Strasbourg

Sept. 2023-Sept 2025 : Directrice de la mention Etudes européennes et internationales (EEI), Sciences Po, Université de Strasbourg.

Scientific responsibilities and collaborative activities (since 2016)

2021 – 2025 : Membre nommée de la Section 40 (Politique, Pouvoir, Organisation) du Comité national de la Recherche Scientifique. A ce titre, participation aux 2 sessions annuelles de suivi des carrières de chercheurs et chercheuses, et aux jurys de recrutement au concours de chargé.e de recherche sur la base de l’examen préalable des dossiers.

2021 – : Membre des commissions formation et recherche de l’Institut Thématique Interdisciplinaire MAKeRS sur « La Fabrique de la société européenne »

2022-2025 : Membre du Conseil scientifique du CEFRES (Centre français de recherches en sciences sociales, Prague)

2017-2023 : Co-Responsable, avec Wiebke Keim (CNRS), de l’Axe 3 de SAGE, « Production, circulation et critique des savoirs » et organisatrice du Séminaire de l’Axe 3. Organisation d’un séminaire de recherche mensuel

27-29 June 2018, directrice de l’IOGLOB project, Reviewing Workshop “MicroPolitics in International Organizations: Shaping Governance in an Era of Globalization” Maison Interuniversitaire des Sciences de l’Homme d’Alsace. Université de Strasbourg

Since 2024 : membre du réseau de recherche international LoCi (Lower classes and institutions) coordonné par Vincent Dubois (Sciences Po Strasbourg-SAGE), https://lowerclassinstitutions.com/events/.

Since 2018 : Membre du réseau de recherche international Policy Diffusion. Partenaire de l’organisation et des travaux de International Conference on Policy Diffusion and Development Cooperation, Sao Paulo, 16-19 mai 2018. https://policydiffusion.com/ et Sao Paulo 25-27 mai 2020 : https://policydiffusion.com/icpddc-2020/ Coopération avec les Universités de Liverpool, Carleton (Canada), South Australia, Alberto Urtado (Chili), PUC (Pérou)…

2018-2019 : Lauréate et responsable du Programme MISHA « Construction et circulation des savoirs “experts” sur l’action publique dans l’espace européen : le rôle des organisations internationales ». Budget de 6000 Euros par an.

Dans ce cadre, partenaire de la Journée d’Etudes « Le registre scientifique des Organisations internationales », Lyon, 6-7 juillet 2018.

2016 : organisatrice et responsable scientifique, avec Romuald Normand et David Dolowitz, du Colloque international IOGLOB, International Organizations and the Globalization of Public Instruments and Ideas : Micro-Processes and Actors’ Configurations, 1-3 September 2016, MISHA, Strasbourg

A selection of educational initiatives

2024- : Cours Decentralising the Classroom, decentring the social sciences. Democracy and the people, here and there. Cours optionnel de 4è année du diplôme de Sciences Po. Cours monté avec Wiebke Keim (CR CNRS, SAGE) et, à Santiago (Chili) et à Brasilia (Brésil), avec Leandro Rodriguez Medina (Professor, Center for the Study of Science, Technology and Society, Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile) et Stefan Klein (Professor, Department and Graduate Programme of Sociology, Universidade de Brasília, Brazil). Dispositif inspiré de la pédagogie de l’apprentissage en expérimentant (learning by doing) visant à l’internationalisation et à la dé-standardisation des contenus.

2024- : « Incubateur d’innovations publiques et politiques », M2 Politique européenne et Gouvernances. Dispositif tutoré autour d’un cas pratique d’actualité, élaboré et mis en oeuvre en étroite collaboration avec des praticiens de l’UE (CJUE, CE), visant à la professionnalisation par l’expérimentation directe encadrée par des praticiens et par des pédagogues, en français et en anglais. Associé à l’Incubateur : séjour d’étude à Luxembourg pour assister à l’audience de l’affaire étudiée à la CJUE, où plaide l’un des praticiens engagés dans l’Incubateur.

POPULARISING RESEARCH

11 Septembre 2025 : organisation, à Sciences Po Strasbourg, du lancement de l’Observatoire des sociétés politiques européennes, par une table ronde ouverte au public, sur « Conservatismes en action : tensions sociales, fractures électorales et recompositions européennes » : deux parties : 1/ Le Parlement européen et la droite radicale : Stratégies de vote européennes et nationales ; 2/ Migrations contestées, sociétés fracturées ? Entre politiques d’accueil, discours médiatiques et réalités sociales. https://mastereurope.fr/11-septembre-2025-lancement-officiel-de-lobservatoire-des-societes-politiques-europeennes/

22 Septembre et 10 décembre 2025 : organisation de deux conférences inaugurales du Master Etudes européennes de Sciences Po, sur le thème « Les sciences sociales face aux sociétés en guerre ». Conférence 1 sur l’Ukraine (22 septembre) ; Conférence 2 sur Gaza et la Cisjordanie (10 décembre). https://www.sciencespo-strasbourg.fr/agenda/evenement/conferences-de-rentree-du-master-etudes-europeennes-et-internationales-de-sciences-po-strasbourg

Novembre 2023 : participation à l’organisation d’une série de conférences sur le thème des universités en exil, à l’occasion des « Temps fort » du Jardin des Sciences « Libertés scientifiques et exil », en partenariat avec la Caravane des libertés scientifiques pour la libération de Fariba Adelkhah (http://www.fasopo.org/caravane).

https://www.misha.fr/agenda/evenement/libertes-scientifiques-et-exil

2 novembre 2022 : Interviewée dans l’émission de France Culture, Sans oser le demander, « Comment renverser un régime sans verser de sang ? », 58 minutes d’interview https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/sans-oser-le-demander/revolution-de-velours-comment-renverser-un-regime-sans-verser-de-sang-9338900

15 et 24 mars 2022 : organisation et participation à deux conférences-débats ouvertes au public pour décrypter la situation ouverte par l’attaque armée de la Russie contre l’Ukraine : « Décryptage interdisciplinaire : le conflit armé en Ukraine » et « Des voix de l’Est sur la situation en Ukraine » – cette dernière conférence avec le concours, en visioconférence, des collègues centre-est européens de Pologne, Bulgarie, Roumanie. https://evenements.unistra.fr/agenda-unistra/detail-evenement/19811-decryptage-interdisciplinaire-conflit-arme-en-ukraine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIAcrmmL4nU

https://evenements.unistra.fr/agenda-unistra/detail-evenement/19875-des-voix-de-lest-sur-la-situation-en-ukraine

17 novembre 2020 : Interview accordée à Radio Praha à l’occasion de la commémoration de la « révolution de velours » : https://francais.radio.cz/a-la-difference-de-la-pologne-ou-de-la-hongrie-1989-reste-globalement-une-8700311

13 février 2020 : organisation d’une conférence-débat dédiée à Fariba Adelkhah (FNSP-CERI) et Roland Marchal (CNRS-CERI), « Chercher en terrain « miné » ? Accès aux sources et liberté de la recherche », MISHA.

2019 : Organisation d’une série de trois conférences sur « Retour sur le ‘clivage Est-Ouest’, 30 ans après », en coopération avec les Jeunes Européens de Strasbourg et le Grand Continent.

PUBLICATIONS

Books or special issues of journals

(with David Dolowitz and Romuald Normand, eds.), Shaping Policy Agendas. The Micro-Politics of International Economic Organizations, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2020a. https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/shaping-policy-agendas-9781788976985.html

(with Leslie A. Pal, Christopher Walker, eds.), Public Policy Transfer. Micro-Dynamics and Macro-Effects, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2017a, 360p. http://www.e-elgar.com/shop/public-policy-transfer

(avec Claire Visier), Circulation des modèles d’administration, numéro spécial, Revue française d’administration publique, vol. 161, no. 1, 2017b, 234 p. http://www.ena.fr/Recherche-et-documentation/publications/rfap

Politix, « Les hommes d’affaires en politique », coordonné avec Jean-Louis Briquet, 21 (84), 2008a https://www.cairn.info/revue-politix-2008-4.htm

ARTICLES (PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS)

“Explorando una conversión. La Nueva Gestión Pública en la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económicos (OCDE), entre 1970 y 1980 », Estudios Sociales del Estado – volumen 3, número 5, pp. 55 a 98, 2017c, p.55-98. http://www.estudiossocialesdelestado.org/index.php/ese/article/view/107/78

(avec Visier Claire), « Circulation internationale et fabrique européenne de l’administration publique », Revue française d’administration publique, vol. 161, no. 1, 2017d, pp. 5-18. http://www.ena.fr/Recherche-et-documentation/publications/rfap

« SIGMA : un programme international de renforcement des capacités administratives en terres européennes (1992-2012) », Revue française d’administration publique, vol. 161, no. 1, 2017e, pp. 73-88. https://www.cairn.info/revue-francaise-d-administration-publique-2017-1-page-73.htm

« La better regulation entre coordination européenne et relations triangulaires : OCDE, États membres et Union européenne », Revue française d’administration publique, vol. 158, no. 2, 2016a, pp. 561-575. https://www.cairn.info/revue-francaise-d-administration-publique-2016-2-page-561.htm

“Občanská demokratická strana a prosazení stranickosti v české demokracii devadesátých let” [The Civic Democratic Party and the Ascendance of the Professional Party Organisation in the Czech Democracy in the 1990s], Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review, 2011, 47 (1), p.89-114. . http://sreview.soc.cas.cz/en/issue/116-sociologicky-casopis-czech-sociological-review-1-2011/2101

« De la mobilisation citoyenne à la délégation partisane. L’émergence du Parti civique démocratique (ODS) en République tchèque », Transitions, numéro spécial Les élites intermédiaires dans les partis politiques d’Europe centrale et orientale, XLVIII (1), 2008b, p.57-84. http://dev.ulb.ac.be/cevipol/dossiers_fichiers/4-hadjiisky.pdf

« The Failure of Participatory Democracy in the Czech Republic », West European Politics, 24 (3), July 2001a, p.43-64. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01402380108425452

« La démocratie par le marché. Le cas tchèque (1989-1996) », in Changer de régime, dossier coordonné par A. Collovald et B. Gaïti, Politix, (47) automne 1999, p.63-88. http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/polix_0295-2319_1999_num_12_47_1793

« République tchèque : la fin annoncée du ‘miracle tchèque’ de Vaclav Klaus ? », Revue internationale et stratégique, in Europe de l’Est, la nouvelle donne, dossier dirigé par E. Kulesza, (26) été 1997, p.75-87.

« L’image de l’« Occident » chez les migrants bulgares », Migrations société, 5 (27), 1993a, p.55-63.

« La Bulgarie et la recherche sur l’histoire du temps présent », Bulletin de l’Institut d’histoire du temps présent, 54, décembre 1993b, p.27-41.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO COLLECTIVE WORKS, INCLUDING HANDBOOKS

(avec Muriel Surdez) “L’internationalisation des problèmes publics : reconsidérer l’articulation entre organisations internationales et espaces nationaux », in Collovald Annie, Guionnet Christine, Le Bart Christian, Renou Gildas, Pour une science politique nomade. Autour des travaux d’Erik Neveu, Rennes, PUR, à paraître 2026, p. 122-137

« Political Analysis », in Radaelli C., De Francesco F., Edward Elgar Companion to the OECD, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, Northampton 2023, p.50-66.

« International Organizations as complex agents in policy transfer processes », in O. Porto de Oliveira, dir., Handbook of Policy Transfer, Diffusion and Circulation, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, Northampton, 2021a, p.121-154.

(avec O. Porto de Oliveira et P. Hassenteufel) « Circulação internacional e comparação transnacional de políticas públicas », in O. Porto de Oliveira, P. Hassenteufel, dirs., Sociologia Política da Ação Pública. Teorias, Abordagens e Conceitos, Escola Nacional de Administração Pública, 2021b, p.315-334.

(with David Dolowitz and Romuald Normand), “Introduction”, in Shaping Policy Agendas. The Micro-Politics of International Economic Organizations, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2020b, p.1-14.

(with David Dolowitz and Romuald Normand), “Conclusion”, Shaping Policy Agendas. The Micro-Politics of International Economic Organizations, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2020c, p.184-194.

“When Prophecy Succeeds. The Political Failure of Dissidents in the New Czech Democracy”, in Fillieule Olivier and Neveu Erik, eds., Activists Forever? Long-Term Impacts of Political Activism, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2019a, p.224-250.

“Le rôle des organisations internationales dans la diffusion du New Public Management”, in N. Matyjasik et M. Guenoun, dirs., En finir avec le New Public Management ?, Paris, Institut de la gestion publique et du développement économique, 2019b, p.29-46.  https://books.openedition.org/igpde/5798

(with Leslie A. Pal, Christopher Walker, eds.), “Traversing the terrain of policy transfer: Theory, methods, and overview”, in Public Policy Transfer. Micro-Dynamics and Macro-Effects, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2017f, p.1-26.

(with Leslie A. Pal, Christopher Walker, eds.), “Conclusion”, Public Policy Transfer. Micro-Dynamics and Macro-Effects, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2017g, p.271-278.

“Policy Tranfers in Europe. The European Union and Beyond”, in Normand Romuald, Derouet Jean-Louis, European politics of Education? Perspectives from Sociology, Policy Studies and Politics, Routledge, 2016b, p.31-51

« Circulation des modèles d’action publique », in E. Lambert Abdelgawad, H. Michel, dirs., Dictionnaire des acteurs de l’Europe, Bruxelles, Editions Larcier, 2015, p.63-66
« Circulation of  Policy Models », in E. Lambert Abdelgawad, H. Michel, eds., Dictionary of European Actors, Brussels, Larcier, 2015a, pp.48-50

« Assistance internationale », in E. Lambert Abdelgawad, H. Michel, dirs., Dictionnaire des acteurs de l’Europe, Bruxelles, Editions Larcier, 2015b, p.32-36 ; « International Assistance », in E. Lambert Abdelgawad, H. Michel, eds., Dictionary of European Actors, Brussels, Larcier, 2015b, pp.191-194

« Vznik Obcanske demockraticke strany : pokus o sociologickou analyzu » [L’émergence du Parti civique démocratique : essai d’analyse sociologique], in A. Gjuricova, M. Kopecek (eds.), Kapitoly z dejin Ceske demokracie po roce 1989 [Chapitres de l’histoire de la démocratie tchèque après 1989], Paseka, Praha, Litomysl, 2008c, p.70-90. http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00364063

« Europe et réforme de l’administration : le statut des agents de l’Etat en République tchèque », in J. Beck, F. Thedieck, The European Dimension of Administrative Culture, Nomos, Baden Baden, 2008d, p.309-328. http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00364039

« Les économistes au pouvoir. De l’usage d’une expertise professionnelle dans la construction des nouvelles démocraties centre-européennes », in W. Andreff, La transition vers le marché et la démocratie, Paris, Editions La Découverte, 2007a, p. 146-172. http://www.cairn.info/resume.php?ID_ARTICLE=DEC_ANDRE_2006_01_0146

« Européanisation et réforme de l’Etat. L’influence de l’Union européenne sur la réforme des administrations publiques centrales tchèques (1993-2004) », in R. Pasquier, O. Baisnée (dirs.), L’Europe telle qu’elle se fait. Européanisation et sociétés politiques nationales, Paris, CNRS Editions, 2007b, p.167-193. http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00307250/fr/

« La culture ‘civique’ en Pays tchèques. Généalogie d’une référence politique », in C. Neveu (dir.), Cultures et pratiques participatives. Perspectives comparatives. Paris, L’Harmattan, Logiques politiques, 2007c, p.331-351.

« Des leaders ‘sans parti’. Engagement résistant et désengagement dirigeant : les anciens dissidents en République tchèque », in L. Arnaud, C. Guionnet (dirs.), Les frontières du politique, 2005, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2005a, p.293-323. http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00307364/fr/

« ‘Démocratiser’ un système administratif. Les paradoxes de la réforme des administrations publiques centrales en République tchèque (1989-1998) », in F. Dreyfus (dir.), L’Administration dans les processus de transition démocratique, Publications de la Sorbonne, 2004, p.91-138. http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00307377/fr/

« République tchèque », in P. Perrineau, D. Reynié (dirs.), Le Dictionnaire du Vote, Presses Universitaires de France, 2001b, p.895-898.

« Pologne, Hongrie, Bulgarie : victoires et limites du ’pragmatisme’ », in G. Hermet, L. Marcou (dirs.), Des partis comme les autres ? Les anciens communistes en Europe de l’Est. Editions Complexe, coll. Espace international, 1998, p.33-75.

Other Publications

« Vaclav Havel : portrait de l’homme politique en prophète », Savoir/Agir, 19, mars 2012.

« Europeanisation and the reform of the State: The influence of the European Union in the reform of the Czech public administration (1993-2004) », Working Paper, GSPE-PRISME, 27/01/2009. http://prisme.u-strasbg.fr/workingpapers/WPHadjiisky.pdf

« Les formes de la démocratie en Europe post-communiste. Le débat tchèque », Transcontinentales, 1, 2ème semestre 2005b, p.107-124. http://www.revues.msh-paris.fr/Modele2/articlesite/resume.asp?id_pub=1416&id_perio=71

« La fin du Forum civique et la naissance du Parti civique démocratique : la construction d’une entreprise politique et le reniement du mouvement civique de 1989 » Documents de travail du CEFRES (6) mai 1996, 53 p.

« L’émigration des intellectuels bulgares : entre l’exode professionnel et le retrait du politique » L’Autre Europe, 1995.

« La Bulgarie : le problème des Turcs et la tentation de l’ailleurs » et « Portrait de l’émigrant bulgare », Panoramiques, in Est : ces immigrés qui viendraient du froid… dossier coordonné par C. Withol de Wenden et A. de Tinguy, 1994 (14), p.48-52 et p.53-63.

CEFRES Team

Adrien Popovitch – Reearch & CV

Investigating Critical Thinking at the University: A Mixed-Methods Approach

Research Area 2: Norms and Transgressions

Contact: adrien.popovitch@univ-amu.fr 

This doctoral research focuses on the concept of critical thinking at university. How can it be defined? How can it be taught? How can it be assessed? How can we determine the needs and impact of existing mechanisms? How can we create effective initiatives to develop this form of thinking among students? To attempt to answer these various research questions, I began by conducting a systematic review of the scientific literature (Sacré et al., 2021) in order to construct a pluralistic and coherent theoretical framework capable of accounting for the multiple facets of the subject (Tetlock & Dan Gardner, 2015). Thus, a comprehensive programme in critical thinking should expose students to realistic and complex problems (Liu & Pásztor, 2022) through inquiry groups (Lipman, 2008) structured around Socratic dialogue (Abrami et al., 2015), in order to enable them to put into practice skills in cognitive hygiene (Kahneman, Sibony & Sunstein, 2021), documentary research (Moher et al., 2009), epistemic vigilance (Pasquinelli and Gérald Bronner, 2021), scientific methodology (Glennerster & Takavarasha, 2013) and political action (Jarvis, 2024).

In order to test this theoretical framework against empirical data from French-speaking academic settings, we employed mixed-methods research (Nastasi et al., 2007) by conducting 44 semi-structured interviews (with university vice-chancellors, specialist lecturers and researchers, educational engineers, etc.), 97 hours of recorded direct observation in critical thinking courses (undergraduate, master’s, doctoral, university of the third age, summer school, National Meetings on Critical Thinking, etc.) as well as a quasi-experimental study involving a sample of 327 undergraduate students in Education and Training Sciences who were required to complete a questionnaire and a standardised test measuring argumentative critical thinking: the Ennis-Weir Critical Thinking Essay Test (Ennis & Weir, 1985).

CV

Education

  • 2023 – 2027 : Doctorant en sciences de l’éducation et de la formation sous la direction de Caroline Ladage (ADEF – Aix-Marseille Université).
  • 2021 – 2023 : Master Recherche en sciences de l’éducation et de la formation mention très bien
  • 2018 – 2023 : Licence Sciences de l’éducation et de la formation mention très bien
  • 2016 – 2018 : BTS Services et Prestations des Secteurs Santé et Social mention très bien

Organisation of conferences and seminars

  • 23 et 24 mai 2024 : Responsable scientifique et organisatrice avec l’équipe recherche DREAM-U de l’Ecole de recherche pluridisciplinaire sur la réussite, la régulation émotionnelle et les dispositifs d’aide à l’autonomie à Aix-Marseille Université

Involvement in research projects

  • 2025-2026 Membre du projet de l’Agence Nationale de la Recherche “DREAM*U” (ANR-18-NCUN-0003)
  • 2023-2026 Membre du projet de l’Agence Nationale de la Recherche “PROPEDASUP” (ANR-25-CE41-69)

Papers with proceedings

  • Popovitch A. & Ladage, C. (à paraître). Using the anthropological theory of the didactic as a framework for an inquiry into teaching critical, European Society for Research in Mathematics Education CITAD7 : 8th International Conference on the Anthropological Theory of the Didactic.

Summer schools

  • 10 juin 2025 – 12 juin 2025 : Participation à la Summer School sur les évaluations d’impact randomisées du programme Innovations, Données et Expérimentations en Éducation (IDEE) du consortium J-PAL Europe / Paris School of Economics / PSL

Teaching experience

2023-2026 : Chargé de Mission d’Enseignement à Aix-Marseille Université durant les trois ans du contrat doctoral (Département des Sciences de l’éducation et de la formation de la Faculté des Arts, Lettres, Langues et Sciences Humaines, enseignements en philosophie de l’éducation et en méthodologie de la recherche au niveaux L1, L2, L3, M1, M2).

CEFRES Team

Michal Chudý – Research & CV

Existential Ethics in Literature

Contact: michal.chudy@savba.sk

Research Area 2: Norms and Transgressions

My research is focused on the thought of Jean-Paul Sartre, specifically on his never produced, but often promised ethical theory consistent with the ontological basis of existentialism rooted in radical freedom. Neither Sartre himself, nor succeeding academics or commentators have been able to produce a coherent theory, with the prevalent consensus that such a feat is impossible. I see Sartre’s misguided and misrepresented conception of intersubjectivity as the root of this problem, and propose an interdisciplinary approach focused not only on Sartre’s philosophical treatises, but also on his literary corpus as interpretative standing stones for a more cooperative conception of existentialist intersubjectivity, which would serve as the basis of an ethical theory. The aim of my research is to prove that Sartre’s depiction of intersubjectivity in Being and Nothingness is incomplete, which can be derived from his literary works, seen by himself as valid expressions of philosophical thought. Such a reinterpretation of intersubjectivity would also solidify the claim that Sartre was deeply aware of intersubjectivity as a key part of our ontological structure, and that precisely this intersubjectivity is a natural limit to the radical freedom he describes.

Overall, the aim of my research is not only to construe an ethical theory of existentialism, but to also add to the debate of the form of philosophical writing and provide further proof that literature is a valid medium of philosophical expression.

CEFRES Team

Zihan Yang – Research & CV

“Political Ideas of Europe in Czechoslovak Dissent from 1975 to 1992”

Research areas 1 & 2: Displacements, “Dépaysements” and Discrepancies: People, Knowledge and Practices & Norms and Transgressions

Contact: zihan@post.cz

The subject of this dissertation is an analysis of the development of political ideas about Europe among Czechoslovak dissident intellectuals. It approaches debates on “Europe” not as fixed ideological positions, but as political languages shaped by changing international and domestic contexts.

The project identifies two major currents within dissident conceptions of Europe. The first emerged from the Helsinki process and the discourse of universal human rights. It promoted what I term “Helsinki Europe”, grounded in transnational legal norms, civil society, and grassroots cooperation across the Iron Curtain. The second understood Europe primarily as a civilizational and cultural community rooted in historical, cultural traditions, and, at times, religious heritage.

Rather than reducing these dissident thoughts about Europe to a single coherent tradition, the dissertation reconstructs its internal plurality, tensions, and negotiations. In doing so, it seeks to highlight Czechoslovakia’s distinctive contribution to late Cold War debates on Europe and to examine how these ideas influenced post-dissident political practices after 1989.

Methodologically, this dissertation situates itself within the methodological debates of the history of political thought and adopts an approach informed by the contextualist school associated with Quentin Skinner, complemented by the theory of ideological morphology developed by Michael Freeden.

CV

Education

from 2023 till present: PhD Candidate, Contemporary European Cultural History under the supervision of PhDr. Michal Kopeček, Ph.D. (AV ČR) at FHS, Charles University, Prague, Czechia.

2021-2023: Mgr., Master in Area Studies at FSV, Charles University, Prague, Czechia.

Academic activities

  • UACES 56th Annual Conference 2026 (7 September – 9 September 2026), Prague, Czechia. Article Presenter. Envisioning Helsinki Europe: Ex-Reform Communists and Their Reimagining of Political Ideas of Europe in Czechoslovak Dissent
  • “Introduction to Conceptual History” Summer School (August 17 – August 28. 2026), Helsinki, Finland.
  • Summer School of Slavonic Studies 2018, Prague, Czechia. Holder of a reciprocal scholarship of the MEYS CR.

Recent publications

Envisioning Helsinki Europe: Ex-Reform Communists and Their Reimagining of Political Ideas of Europe in Czechoslovak Dissent (Forthcoming) Soudobé dějiny (Czech Journal of Contemporary History).

CEFRES Team

Natalia Toporowska – Research & CV

Women’s Experience of War in the Ego-documents of Female Soldiers From the Late 18th and Early 19th Century

Research Area 2: Norms & Transgressions

Contact: n.toporowska@uw.edu.pl

My project investigates the diaries and memoirs of Polish and French women soldiers, who took an active part in European military conflicts in the period that spanned from the French Revolution to Polish November Uprising, a time when the army was almost completely closed off to women. The main aim of the research is to identify and access previously unknown or understudied autobiographical writing, and secondly to analyze it with specific focus being given to the narrative strategies of self-creation, representation of subversive gender acts and expressions, and various external practices of managing the memory of those women, manifesting itself in editing, and re-telling of their experiences.

Rooted in thorough archival work, the project assumes an interdisciplinary methodological approach. Most importantly, it begins with textual studies methods that allow to identify various alternatives of the texts and trace the editorial interventions, while also posing the questions about the significance of the introduced changes. The second perspective, situated at the intersection of autobiography studies and feminist criticism, provides tools to further understand the strategies of textualizing gendered experience that up to that point had close to none literary patterns. Finally, the previous findings are being placed within the context of the connections between Poland and France in the researched period, using a comparative approach to trace the cultural and political flows between those two closely connected nations, that affected both the life and life-writing of women soldiers of that time. The theoretical framework I adopted is completed by both methods and insights from lesbian and trans studies that allow to display the complexities in the narratives of cross-dressing, same-sex relations and subversing the existing norms of what was becoming clarified as the 19th century model of femininity.

More generally, my research interests also include broadly defined autobiographical writing and the construction of lesbian identities.

CV

Education

  • 2023–now: PhD Candidate, Doctoral School of Humanities, University of Warsaw
  • 2023: M.A. in Polish philology, Faculty of Polish Studies, University of Warsaw
  • 2021-2022: International Exchange Programme, Double master franco-polonais en littérature polonaise et études slaves, Faculté de Lettres, Sorbonne Université
  • 2020: B.A. in Polish philology, Faculty of Polish Studies, University of Warsaw
  • 2019: B.A. in Ethnology and cultural anthropology, Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Warsaw

Selected Papers and Presentations

  • Romancing in Disguise: Same-sex Relations of the 18th and 19th Century Women  Soldiers, Lesbian Lives Conference, CUNY Graduate Center, New York City, 23-25 October 2025
  • Traces of Queerness: (Maga)Zines, Literature, and Community-Building in Central  Europe (co-created with Darko Ilin and Tery Žeželj), Crossing Media Boundaries Summer School, University of Nova Gorica, August 27 –  September 1, 2025
  • „Nabrałam tyle odwagi, iż za nic życie ceniłam…”. Kobiece doświadczenia wojen  napoleońskich we wspomnieniach Joanny Żubr i Thérèse Figueur (“I gained so much  courage, I no longer valued my life…”. Women’s experience of the Napoleonic Wars in  the memoirs of Joanna Żubr and Thérèse Figueur), ‘Faces of War – War and Remembrance’ conference, Faculty of Philosophy and History,  University of Łódź, 5–6 June 2025
  • “To be visible it is necessary to speak”. Literary reflections of the emerging lesbian  identities in the Czech, Slovenian and Polish periodicals of the 1990s, International Workshop ‘Boundless Affections: Methodologies in Transnational  History of Same-Sex Desire’, CEFRES, Prague, 19-20 September 2024

Publications

  • “Mutiny on the Argo. Queer Archive as a Strategy of Constructing Identity in Maggie  Nelson’s The Argonauts”. In: “Performatyka. Poza kanonem, t. 1: Resztki, ruiny,  pozostałości, szczątki, piksele – archiwa możliwych przeszłości i przyszłości”, ed. Łucja  Iwanczewska, Cracow 2021.

bit.ly/performatykapozakanonem1

“Fantasies about femininity” and the “queering of drag” – the body in the narrations  and performances of Polish drag queens, Avant, vol. X, no. 3/2019, doi:  10.26913/avant.2019.03.07

CEFRES Team

Cloé Boucon – Research & CV

“Between tradition and Emancipation: a study of the Phalsbourg genizah”

CEFRES Research areas 1, 2 and 3

Contact: cloe.boucon@enssib.fr

Cloé Boucon is a PhD student in history and the history of the book at Lumière Lyon 2 University and the Centre Gabriel Naudé (French National Library and Information Science School – ENSSIB), where she is preparing, under the supervision of Malcolm Walsby (ENSSIB/Lumière Lyon 2 University) and Michèle Tauber (University of Strasbourg), a doctoral thesis studying the paper documents discovered in the genizah, a ritual repository for damaged books and objects that could not be destroyed due to their sacred nature and were stored in the attic of a synagogue in Phalsbourg, Moselle (France), dating from the 17th century to the early 20th century.

Her interdisciplinary doctoral research employs analytical methods drawn from various fields of history: the history of the book, cultural history, religious history, economic history, microhistory, the history of minorities and migration, geographical history, linguistic history and the archaeology of the book. This encompasses all techniques aimed at analyzing the physical characteristics of books and examining every detail of their material existence, paper, typography, illustrations, provenance, stamps, marks, bookplates and ex-libris in order to better understand their uses as well as their economic, intellectual and cultural evolution; analyses the paper documents from the Phalsbourg genizah in their entirety. Examining the question of the provenance and circulation of works, as well as of the individuals who made up the Jewish community of Phalsbourg in Europe, especially in Central Europe and beyond, Jerusalem and the United States of America. As well as the practices of reading and using these documents over a relatively long period (annotations, stitching, bookplates, drawings, preparations and repairs).

 

CV

Academic Training and Diplomas

Doctoral degree in History, University Lumière Lyon 2, Lyon, France

2024–Present: Doctoral degree in History: Between tradition and Emancipation: a study of the paper materials of the Phalsbourg genizah supervision by Malcolm Walsby (University Professor in Book History, French National Library and Information Science School, University Lumière Lyon 2) and Michèle Tauber (University Professor Hebrew-Jewish Studies, Strasbourg University)

Affiliation: Graduate school: Social Sciences (ED483) University Lumière Lyon 2

Research lab: Gabriel Naudé Center – French National Library and Information Science School (ENSSIB)

2022-2024: Master’s degree in History, Civilizations and Heritage, “Cultures of the written word and image”, French National Library and Information Science School with distinction, Villeurbanne, France

2020-2022: Master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies with a major in Hebrew and Jewish Studies – Aix-Marseille University, Aix-en-Provence, France

Scientific Publications

BOUCON Cloé, “From printing to forgetting: the circles of life of a Hebrew book” [online] Universal Short Title Catalogue Blog https://www.ustc.ac.uk/news/from-printing-to-forgetting-the-circles-of-life-of-a-hebrew-book (7 April 2026)

BOUCON Cloé, “Profanes et pourtant sacrés : les livres cachés de la genizah de Bergheim“, École Nationale Supérieure des Sciences de l’Information et des Bibliothèques [online] https://www.enssib.fr/bibliotheque-numerique/documents/72456-profanes-et-pourtant-sacres-les-livres-caches-de-la-genizah-de-bergheim.pdf (22 November 2024)

Participation to conferences (selection)

5 May 2026: Lecture “Josef Schlesinger and Moritz Burian, pioneers of plurilingual editions between Vienna and Budapest” at the conference “Parallel Paths, Shared Past: Jewish History and Genealogy in Central Europe” (4-6 May 2026), organized by the Association for Central European Jewish History and Genealogy and held at Central European University, Vienna (Austria)

28 March: Lecture “The Phalsbourg genizah, fragmented library of a Jewish Community from Moselle” during the “Rencontres archéologiques du Grand Est 2026” (27-28 March 2026) organized by the Grand Est Regional Direction of Cultural Affairs, Sarrebourg (France)

16 January 2026: Lecture at the French Contemporary Religious History association during the annual conference at Sorbonne University: “Money, Money, Money: religions, capital, finances” about the different charity practices in the Jewish Community of Phalsbourg, Paris (France)

16 December 2025: Presentation of my research during “Thèses en Lumière” in the University Lumière Lyon 2 library, Lyon (France)

13 October 2025: Participation during the “Fête de la Science” by presenting my research, French National Library and Information Science School (ENSSIB), Villeurbanne (France)

9 October 2025: Communication: “The Phalsbourg genizah, a reserve of germanic Hebrew books?” at the international conference Acutus et Argutus: Early Modern Print Culture (8-10 October 2025) in Motion at the Martynas Mažvydas (the National Library of Lithuania) and at the National Museum of Lithuania in Vilnius (Lithuania)

30 March 2025: Communication for the Regional Historical Days organized by the Grand Est Region (East of France): Libraries in attics, the Bergheim and Phalsbourg genizot, Pont-à-Mousson (France)

October 2022: Lecture about the poetry of Bouena Sarfatty-Garfinkle in Judeo-Spanish organized by the Jewish Studies Department at the Free University of Brussels (Belgium)

March 2022: Lecture about the memorial writing of Clarisse Nicoïdski organized by the Hebrew-Jewish Studies Department in Aix-Marseille University (France)

Internships

February 2024–June 2024: Internship at the Alliance Israélite Universelle Library in Paris: Analysis and Provenance Research on the nazis stamps in the collection, cataloging this information. Investigate an ensemble of looted books by nazis from different collections in Paris during World War II

June 2023–July 2023: Internship at the Museum of Jewish Art and History in Paris (curation department): Study (materiality, state, use, date and place of publication) of a Sephardic rabbi book collection in Hebrew, Yiddish and Judeo-Spanish

Summer schools

24 August 2025–29 August 2025: Jewish Heritage Seminar in Amsterdam, organized by the Rothschild Hanadiv Europe Foundation: Field seminar about Jewish Heritage. Visiting and analyzing the Jewish Heritage of Amsterdam