The Deutsch Security Square is a research centre established at the Department of International Relations, Institute of Political Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences of the Charles University in Prague. It has been founded with the aim to promote the collective research of security in the best tradition of the scholarship of Karl Deutsch seeking, in his words, "more knowledge for greater competenc
e and more compassion." While Karl Deutsch (1912-1992) rose to academic fame as one of the titans of political science in the United States, the Charles University, one of the oldest and most renowned universities in Central and Eastern Europe, proudly recognizes him as its alumnus. It was at the university’s Law Faculty that Deutsch, fluent in both German and Czech, received his juris doctor degree (1938) before fleeing the political storm that was about to befall his homeland. He would not come back, and following a long and distinguished career, he ended his days in Cambridge, Massachussetts. To pay tribute to Deutsch's intellectual heritage, the Charles University was one of the convenors of a Prague conference celebrating his centenary (2012); and the Centre has recently become entrusted with the custody of his personal library, a rare collection of books from a wide variety of fields of human interest that his family wished was moved to Prague after his passing. The square in the Centre’s name refers to four areas of our collective research interests: conflict resolution and transformation, strategic studies, small states security and critical security studies, and in particular perspectives inquiring into the interplay of security and technology in today’s global politics. It also metaphorically alludes to an agora as a space where ideas can be floated, traded and shared, and where those who enter it can join in a dialogue. We strive for academic excellence without prejudice in terms of methodology as long as the research is theoretically sound, innovative and thorough. The ethos of Deutschian scholarship we seek to promote is one that rests less on methodological assumptions about the possibility of measuring and modelling social reality and more on the liberal approach on security. Indeed, we do adhere to the ethic of rigorous, transparent, collective and transdisciplinary research. In addition, we take seriously the challenge to the realist paradigm by striving to zoom in and out of the ‘leviathan’ of the modern state when thinking about security, stressing the importance of both norms, ideas and discourses; and of social practice of (in)security. The focus on the latter situates our inquires at the intersection of international relations and international political sociology that thinks beyond the state institutions and even elites’ practices and knowledges. In addition to academic endeavour traditionally conceived, we seek also to speak to broader audiences and to cultivate the debate on security issues and policies. This is being done by means of regular publication of our security briefs that provide concise, theoretically informed and practically relevant commentaries on global security issues of the day; and public events where outcomes of our academic research are mediated to the broader interested public.
