Diverging or converging trajectories? Assessing differences in the internationalisation of political science within Central and Eastern Europe

Authors: Damir Kapidžić, Diana Janušauskienė & Peter Csanyi
Year: 2022
Title: Diverging or converging trajectories? Assessing differences in the internationalisation of political science within Central and Eastern Europe
Journal: European Political Science
Issue & pages: vol. 21, no. 4, pages 641–656
DOI: 10.1057/s41304-022-00364-y

Abstract:
Internationalisation among European political scientists is not uniform and while research emphasises variations between Western and Eastern Europe, we known less about the contrasting patterns of internationalisation among countries in Central and Eastern Europe. This contribution aims to identify if there are different patterns of internationalisation among groups of countries in the East and what factors influence diverging or converging trajectories. We look at how historical institutionalisation of the discipline, European Union membership, and levels of national funding impact internationalisation in four groups of countries, for three different profiles of international scholars. Relying on data from the 2018 ProSEPS survey among European political scientists, we find that historical legacies have a significant negative impact on levels of internationalisation for all profiles of international scholars. On the other hand, higher access to national funding and EU resources has a positive impact on internationalisation, but not as significant. We conclude that legacies matter and that Europeanisation and access to resources leads to a slow convergence in internationalisation of political scientists form Eastern and Western Europe.