Doctoral Dissertations

The main product of the program is the doctoral dissertation. All doctoral dissertations submitted to the Doctoral School must make a significant and original contribution to the knowledge and understanding of their subject.

Dissertations are submitted to the School after a maximum of six years, and are defended in front of a Dissertation Committee, during a public doctoral defense. 

After the defense, the doctoral dissertation becomes available at the CEU library. You can browse, read and download them here: Central European University Library (ceu.edu).

Below you'll find recent ones and ones that will be defended soon.

2023

Re-Conceptualizing A Global Challenger: Russia In The International System

by Jacqueline Dufalla

Defense Committee: TBD

Date of the Defense: TBC

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The Political Economy of Transfers, Public Opinion and Policy Preferences

by Krisztina Szabó
Defense Committee: 

Caitlin Brown (supervisor, University of Manchester) 
Cristina Corduneanu-Huci (CEU) 
Damien Bol (external member, King's College) 
Michael Dorsch (chair, CEU)

Date of the Defense: May 30, 2023

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Politics and Political Economy of Elite Defections: Exploring the Sources and Effects of Elite Defections in Autocracies

by Azad Garibov

Defense Committee: TBC

Date of the Defense: TBD

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The Sovereignty Conundrum: Between Territory and Authority in Contemporary Global Politics

by Andras Radnoti

Defense Committee:  TBC

Date of the Defense: TBD

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The Value of Personal Autonomy

by Perica Jovchevski

Defense Committee:  TBC

Date of the Defense: TBD

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Democracy under threat: Understanding mass appeal for undemocratic parties and practices

By Nemanja Stankov

Defense Committee: 

Levente Littvay (supervisor, CEU) 
Robert Sata (CEU) 
Bojan Todosijevic (external member, Institute of Social Sciences, Belgrade) 
Erin K. Jenne (chair, CEU)

Date of the Defense: May 3, 2023

2022

Beyond The Rent-seeking: The Political Economy of the European Agricultural Policy (Non)Reform in the Twenty-First Century

By Ardi Priks

Defense Committee:

Laszlo Csaba (supervisor, CEU)
Thomas Fetzer (CEU)
Marko Lovec (external member, University of Ljubljana)

Michael Merlingen (chair, CEU) 

Date of the Defense: May 24, 2023

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Patterns of Corruption - A Study of Sub-National Units in Romania

By Andrei Cosmin Macsut

Defense Committee: 

Zsolt Enyedi (supervisor, CEU)
Cristina Corduneanu-Huci (CEU)
Clara Volintiru (external member, Bucharest University of Economic Studies )
Erin Jenne (chair, CEU)

Date of the Defense: April 19, 2023

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Far-Right Demobilisation: Patterns and processes from demonstration campaigns in Germany, England, and Austria

By Michael C. Zeller

Defense Committee:

András Bozóki (supervisor, CEU) – voting member
Carsten Schneider (CEU) – voting member
Swen Hutter (external member, Freie Universität Berlin and Center for Civil Society Research WZB Berlin Social Science Center) – voting member
Dorit Geva (chair, CEU) – non-voting member

Date of the Defense: February 24, 2023

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Your Assembly is Abolished: Civil-Military Relations and Public Policies in Putin's Russia

By Kirill Shamiev

Defense Committee: 

Christopher LaRoche (supervisor, CEU) 
Cristina Corduneanu-Huci (CEU) 
Risa Brooks (external member, Marquette University) 
Carsten Schneider (chair) 

Date of the Defense: January 13, 2023

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Distributive Politics as Behavioral Localism: Local Ties as Heuristics for Public Goods Allocation and Bureaucratic Oversight

By Dániel Kovarek

Defense Committee: 

Levente Littvay (supervisor, CEU)
Cristina Corduneanu-Huci (CEU) 
Zsofia Papp (external member, Center for Social Sciences at the Hungarian Academy of Science) 
Florian Weiler (chair)

Date of the Defense: December 15, 2022

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Post-Neoliberalism and the Politics of Capital Mobility

By Pedro Perfeito Da Silva

Defense Committee: 

Evelyne Huebscher (supervisor, CEU) – voting member
Cristina Corduneanu-Huci (CEU) – voting member
Cornel Ban (external member, Copenhagen Business School) – voting member
Anil Duman (chair) – non-voting member

Date of the Defense: February 17, 2023

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The Receptiveness of Political Parties towards Women: Understanding the Impact of Candidate Selection Procedures

By Burtejin Zorigt

Defense Committee: 

Gabor Toka (supervisor, CEU) – voting member
Eva Fodor (CEU) – voting member
Ekaterina Rashkova-Gerbrands (external member, Utrecht University) – voting member
Eszter Kovats (chair, Democracy Institute) – non-voting member

Date of the Defense: March 8, 2023

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Kill Once, Dead Twice: Dead Body Management and Power in Turkey’s Counterinsurgency Against the PKK

By Cihan Erdost Akin

Defense Committee: 

Paul Roe (supervisor, Central European University) – voting member
Chris LaRoche (Central European University) – voting member
Jessica Auchter (external member, Université Laval) – voting member
Michael Merlingen (chair, Central European University)

Date of the Defense: December 2, 2022

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Reflexivity in European Higher Education Governance: Studies on Practice

By Adrienn Nyircsák

Defense Committee: 

Liviu Matei (supervisor, Central European University) – voting member 
Xymena Kurowska (Central European University) – voting member  
Jens Jungblut (external member, University of Oslo) – voting member
Marie-Pierre F. Granger (chair, Central European University)

Date of the Defense: October 5, 2022

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Between Ideal Theory and Practice: Justice as Fairness, Productive Ownership Rights and Wider Economic Liberties

By Emil Vargović

Defense Committee: 

Zoltan Miklosi (supervisor, Central European University) 
Janos Kis (Central European University) 
Andrew Williams (external member, University Pompeu-Fabra)

Andres Moles (chair, Central European University)

Date of the Defense: September 12, 2022

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Transnational Civil Disobedience: Understanding Illegal Political Dissent Beyond Borders

By Elettra Repetto

Defense Committee: 

Zoltan Miklosi (supervisor, Central European University)
Andres Moles (Central European University)
Kimberley Brownlee (external member, University of British Columbia)
Anca Gheaus (chair, Central European University)

Date of the Defense: May 25, 2022

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Vicissitudes of Islamic Humanitarianism: Compassion, Care, and Immobilization

By Eda Sevinin

Defense Committee: 

Prem Kumar Rajaram (supervisor, Central European University)
Viola Zentai (Central European University)
Deniz Sert (external member, Ozyegin University, Istanbul)
Andrea Krizsan (chair, Central European University)

Date of the Defense: May 27, 2022

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Priority of Individual Sovereignty: A Libertarian Approach

By Kin-wai Leung

Defense Committee: 

Andrés Moles (supervisor, Central European University)
Zoltán Miklósi (Central European University)
Ian Carter (University of Pavia - external voting member)
Janos Kis (chair, Central European University)

Date of the Defense: November 3, 2022

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Constraining the Executive in Petrostates

By Antonio Henrique Smith Bravo

Defense Committee: 

Michael Dorsch (supervisor, Central European University) 
Cristina Corduneanu-Huci (Central European University) 
Leiv Marsteintredet (external member, University of Bergen) 
Andrew Xiang Li (chair, Central European University) 

Date of the Defense: April 29, 2022

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Fortressing on Markets: Financial Supervision in the Capital Markets Union

By Dominik Brenner

Defense Committee: 

László Csaba (supervisor, Central European University)
László Bruszt (Central European University)
Rachel Epstein (external member, University of Denver)
Michael Merlingen (chair, Central European University) 

Date of the Defense: March 15, 2022

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In the Struggle for Radical Knowledge: Autoethnography and Collective Militant Research with the MTST – Homeless Workers' Movement

By Alberto Fierro

Defense Committee: 

Michael Merlingen (supervisor, Central European University) 
Viola Zentai (voting member, Central European University)
Richa Nagar (external voting member, University of Minnesota Twin Cities) 
Nadia Jones Gailani (chair, Central European University)

Date of the Defense: March 3, 2022

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Difference Worthy of Mediation? US-China Rapprochement Reappraised in a New Framework of Diplomatic Normalization

By Tamás Ferenc Peragovics

Defense Committee:

Alex Astrov (supervisor, Central European University)
Daniel Large  (voting member, Central European University)
Corneliu Bjola (external voting member, Oxford University)
Michael Merlingen (chair, Central European University)

Date of the Defense: February 16, 2022

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Civil Society Organizations in Demobilization and Reintegration: The Ties and Lives of Ex-combatants in Lebanon

By Nassim AbiGhanem

Defense Committee: 

Erin Jenne (supervisor, Central European University)
Matthijs Bogaards (voting member, Central European University)
Ashutosh Varshney (external voting member, Brown University)
Julia Koltai (chair, Eötvös Loránd University)

Date of the Defense: January 28, 2022


You can see the information on dissertations defended in previous years by clicking in the years below:

2021 / 2020 / 2019 / 2018 / 2017 / 2016 / 2015 / 2014 / 2013 / 2012 / 2011 / 2010 / 2009

These dissertations are availabe at CEU's Electronic Theses & Dissertations site, where you can search the catalogue using keywords.

Dissertations submitted before 2009 can be accessed in hard copy in the CEU Library.