Doc. PhDr. Slavomír Horák, Ph.D.

Doc. PhDr. Slavomír Horák, Ph.D.

Position: Associate Professor

Research interests: Central Asia, Turkmenistan, authoritarian regimes, informal structures, ideology

Thematic areas of annual and bachelor theses: modern and contemporary history of Central Asia, memory politics and historiography of the post-Soviet region, state and nation building, informal structures in post-Soviet countries, energy and transport in the Eurasian area conflicts in Central Asia and the Caucasus, society and culture of Central Asia and the Caucasus, Islam in the ex-Soviet space

CONTACT:

Office: C319

Email: horak@fsv.cuni.cz

ResearchGate

Academia.edu

Personal web-site

Office Hours: Upon e-mail agreement (long-term stay abroad)

Positions

(2005 -)

Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Russian and East European Studies

Assistant Professor

(2007 - 2017)

The University of Economics, Faculty of International Relations

Lecturer in Geography of Tourism

Education

Ostrava University, Faculty of Sciences, Specialization: Political and Cultural Geography, doc. (Associate Professor equivalent), 2019.

Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of International Studies. Specialization: International Area Studies, Ph.D., 2007

Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of International Studies. Specialization: Russian and East European Studies, M.A. (Mgr.), 2002

Charles University, Faculty of Arts, Institute of Near East and Africa. Specialization: Turcology and History and Culture of Islamic Countries, 1997-2000 (M.A. unfinished)

The University of Hradec Králové, Faculty of Informatics and Management. Specialization: Tourism Management with extended language studies, B.A. (Bc.), 1998

 

Research grants

Czech Republic Grant Agency

Project title: Where have all the Natsmen gone? Etnické menšiny na postsovětském prostoru.

2022-2024

Mapping and Organizing Research on Dictatorships - Open Access Repository.

H2021

UK team leader, 2023-2026

Erasmus+

Project title: Mapping and Organizing Research on Dictatorships - Open Access Repository.

UK team leader, 2022-2024

Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TAČR)

Project title: Analýza exportních a investičních příležitosti České republiky ve Střední Asii v kontextu měnících se tranzitních a infrastrukturních podmínek regionu.

2021-2023

Horizon 2020

Project title: Legal Cultures and Business Environments in Central Asia (Central Asian Law).

Prague team leader, 2020-2022

UK team leader, 2020-2024

Erasmus+

Project title: Eurasian Insights: Strengthening Central Asian Studies in Europe (EISCAS).

Prague team leader, 2018-2021

Czech Republic Grant Agency (GAČR)

Project title: De facto state in Northern Eurasia in the context of Russian foreign policy

Grant leader, 2015-2017

 

Memberships and boards

European Association for Central Asian Studies. Vice-president, 2022-2026.

 

Research fellowships

University of World Economy and Diplomacy. Tashkent. Visiting scholar, 2024-2025.

Tbilisi State University. Visiting scholar, 2018-2019.

Central Asia Fellowship. Alexanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland Central Asian Fellowship, 2014

Fulbright scholarship. School of Avanced ad International Studies, John Hopkins University, Washigton DC, USA, 2012-2013

Teaching Practise, Tbilisi Institute of Asia and Africa, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2009-2010

Research Scholarship, Institute for Public Policy, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, 2007.

 

Recent conferences

  • „Karakalpakstan event in 2022“. ESCAS 2023 Regional Conference, Almaty, 22-24.9.2023.
  • Интерпретация битвы при Гёкдепе в контексте культа личности в Туркменистане. «Актуальные проблемы методологии востоковедческой науки». Ablai Khan University, Almaty, 12.5.2023.
  • „Economic and human factors of Foreign Direct Investments in Turkmenistan“. Central Eurasian Studies Society Regional Conference, University of World Economy and Diplomacy, Tashkent, 23.-26.6.2022.
  • „Turkmenistan Railway Geopolitics“. Eurasian Insights EISCAS Final Conference, Ghent University, 22-24.10.2021.
  • „Central Asian Studies for XXI century“. Central Eurasian Studies Society Annual Conference, George Washington University, 10.-13.10.2019.
  • “Chinese BRI policy (a view from Ashgabat).“ Sinophone Borderlands – Interactions at the Edges. Palacký University, Olomouc, 21.3.2018.
  • “Do we need to fear of leader’s change in the autocratic regime?” The case of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Authoritarian stability and breakdown in Russia and its neighbour countries. Aarhus University, Aarhus, 2.12.2016.
  • “Gagauzia 1990-1995 as a de-facto state”. Central Eurasian Studies Society Annual Conference. Princeton University, Princeton NJ, 5.11.2016.
  • “Sport as a state ideology in authoritarian regimes”. The case of Aziada-2017 in Turkmenistan. Central Eurasian Studies Society Regional Conference, Kazan State University, Kazan, 2.6.2016.

 

Selected publications

  • Horák, Slavomír: Turkmenistan railway geopolitics. Central Asian Survey, Vol. 42, No. 1, 2023, ISSN 1465-3354, p. 171-190.
  • Horák, Slavomír – Hoch Tomáš: The fate of sacred places as a symbol of unsuccessful conflict transformation in Nagorny Karabakh. Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, No. 59(59), 2023, pp. 25-40.
  • Horák, Slavomír: Ashgabat: The architecture as a showcase of personal regime. In: The Routledge Handbook of Asian Cities (Hu, Richard, ed.). Routledge, Abingdon – New York, 2023, p. 472-482. ISBN 978-1-0321-8840-9.
  • Horák, Slavomír: Turkmenistan’s 2022 Leadership Change Through the Personalist Paradigm. Demokratizatsiya. Vol. 30, No. 4, Fall 2022. ISSN 1940-4603.
  • Kebpanov, Yolbars – Horák, Slavomír – Ovezmyradov, Berdymyrat: The Investment Climate in Turkmenistan: Challenges and Possible Way of Attracting Foreign Investment. Lund University, Lund, 2022, 120 s. ISBN 978-91-7267-461-5.
  • Горак, Славомир: Особенности внешней политики персоналистских режимов (на примере Туркменистана). Международая аналитика. Vol. 12, No. 2, 2021, s. 153-169. ISSN 2587-8476.
  • Horák, Slavomír: Railway Geopolitics in Central Asia from the 19th to the 21st Century. In: European Handbook of Central Asian Studies. History, Politics, and Societies (De Cordier, Bruno - Fauve, Adrien - Van den Bosch, Jeroen, eds.). Ibidem Verlag, Stuttgart, 2021, p. 965-986. ISBN 978-3-8382-1518-1.
  • Horák, Slavomír: History and Evolution of Geopolitics toward Central Asia. In: European Handbook of Central Asian Studies. History, Politics, and Societies (De Cordier, Bruno - Fauve, Adrien - Van den Bosch, Jeroen, eds.). Ibidem Verlag, Stuttgart, 2021, p. 571-628. ISBN 978-3-8382-1518-1.
  • Horák, Slavomír: Turkmenistan: Stability Through Regime Mobilization. In: Political Regimes and Neopatrimonialism in Central Asia. A Sociology of Power Perspective (Serra Massansalvador, Francesc – Izquierdo-Brichs, Ferran, eds.). Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2021, p. 159-197. ISBN 978-981-15-9092-4.
  • Horák, Slavomír: Education in Turkmenistan under the second president. Reforms or pretend reforms? In: Education in Central Asia: A Kaleidoscope of Challenges and Opportunities (Denise Egea, ed.). Springer, 2020, p. 71-91. ISBN 978-3-030-50126-6.
  • Horák, Slavomír: Sports politics in authoritarian regimes. The synergies of sport, ideology and personality cult in Turkmenistan. In: Sport, Statehood and Transition in Europe. Comparative perspectives from post-Soviet and post-socialist societies (Rojo-Labaien, Ekain - Díaz, Juan Álvaro Rodríguez - Rookwood, Joel, eds.). Routledge, Abingdon-New York, 2020, p. 250-267. ISBN 978-0-367-34440-5.
  • Horák, Slavomír: The emergence and failure of the Gagauz Republic (1989–1995). In: De Facto States in Eurasia (Tomáš Hoch, Vincenc Kopeček, eds.). Routledge, Abingdon-New-York, 2020, p. 274-295. ISBN 978-0-367-19912-8.
  • Horák, Slavomír: Turkmenistan: Estabilidad a través de la movilización del regimen. In: Poder y regimens en Asia Central (Francese Serra Messansalvador – Ferran Izquierdo Brichs, eds.). Bellaterra, Barcelona, 2018, s. 177-215. ISBN 978-84-7290-034-9.
  • Horák, Slavomír: Turkmenistan: Estabilidad a través de la movilización del regimen. In: Poder y regimens en Asia Central (Francese Serra Messansalvador – Ferran Izquierdo Brichs, eds.). Bellaterra, Barcelona, 2018, s. 177-215. ISBN 978-84-7290-034-9.
  • Horák, Slavomír: The emergence and failure of the Gagauz Republic (1989–1995). In: De Facto States in Eurasia (Tomáš Hoch, Vincenc Kopeček, eds.). Routledge,  Abingdon, Oxon, New York, 2019, p. 274-295. ISBN 978-03-6719-912-8.
  • Horák, Slavomír: Bukharan People’s Soviet Republic: from protectorate to SSR. In: De Facto States in Eurasia (Tomáš Hoch, Vincenc Kopeček, eds.). Routledge,  Abingdon, Oxon, New York, 2019, p. 46-62. ISBN 978-03-6719-912-8.
  • Horák, Slavomir: Leadership Succession in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan: Between Stability and Instability. Central Asian Affairs, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2018, p. 1-15.
  • Polese, Abel - Ó Beacháin, Donnacha - Horák, Slavomír: Strategies of Legitimation in Central Asia: Regime Durability in Turkmenistan. Contemporary Politics, Vol. 23, No. 4, 2017, p. 427-455. IF2016 = 0.571.
  • Horák, Slavomír: Nation-building and sporting spectacles in authoritarian regimes: Turkmenistan’s Aziada-2017. In: Critical Geographies of Sport: Space, Power and Sport in Global Perspective (Routledge Critical Studies in Sport) (Natalie Koch, ed.). London – New York: Routledge, 2016, s. 48-63. ISBN: 978-1138927124.
  • Horák, Slavomír: Turkmenistan at the last stage of Perestroika. The determinant of the authoritarian path of independent Turkmenistan. Cahiers de l’Asie Centrale, No. 26, 2016. p. 29-49. ISSN 1270-9247.
  • Horák, Slavomír – Polese, Abel: A tale of two presidents: personality cult and symbolic nation-building in Turkmenistan. Nationalities Papers. Vol. 43, Issue 3, 2015, p. 457-478. ISSN 0090-5992.
  • Horák, Slavomír: The Battle of Gökdepe in the Context of Personality Cults in Post-Soviet Turkmenistan. Central Asian Survey, Vol. 34, No. 2, 2015, p. 149-161. ISSN 1465-3354.
  • Horák, Slavomír: The Elite in Post-Soviet and Post-Niyazow Turkmenistan: Does Political Culture Form a Leader? Demokratizatsiya, Vol. 20, No. 4, 2012, s. 371-385. ISSN 1074-6846