Martina Stanková

PhD Candidate, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Political Science and Public Administration

PhD Candidate, Research Programmes - Social Sciences, Multi-layered governance in EUrope and beyond (MLG)

Personal information

Martina Stankova studied Political Science at the VU Amsterdam, obtaining a Masters degree. She is currently pursuing a PhD at the VU Amsterdam, Faculty of Social Sciences.

She was a general VU PhD Council member, member of the PhD Rights portfolio, between February 2023 and June 2025.

Research

My PhD research explores the intersection of foreign policy analysis and comparative politics, with a focus on Central Europe—specifically the Czech Republic and Slovakia. I examine the foreign policy preferences of political parties across the ideological spectrum, taking into account varying party dynamics. By investigating these often-overlooked, non-Western cases, my work aims to identify patterns—or the absence thereof—in how party politics influence foreign policy. Given the distinct historical legacies of Soviet communism in the region and various related factors, Central European political dynamics frequently diverge from those in Western Europe, which remains the predominant focus of existing scholarship.

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