Governance of Social Tipping Points

This monograph assesses the intersections between social tipping points (STP), a relatively understudied social-ecological concept, and various public policy concepts, such as governance, state capacity and resilience of the state and non-state actors, all within the context of the EU Eastern and Southern periphery. This unique approach is subsequently embodied in the newly created conceptual framework of how the STPs are governed and analyzed using three case studies. The goal is to examine how various state and non-state actors (transnational, private, and local) have managed to navigate the STPs triggered by migration, climate change, and geopolitics. The multi-level governance of STPs is studied within the context of the EU periphery, thus spatial and geographical determinants of the resilience are analyzed as well.

Dr. Jakub Szabó is a researcher at the Institute of European Studies and International Relations, Faculty of Social and Economic Studies, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. In his research, Dr. Szabó focuses on issues of comparative and international political economy with a focus on the European Union, European monetary integration as well as post-communist European Union countries, European Union economic governance and differentiation in European integration. He completed study and research stays at the Central European University in Vienna and the European University Institute in Florence. His is the first holder of the joint International Visegrad Fund and European University Institute research grant for consultation of primary sources at the Historical Archives of the European Union in Florence.

Dr. Paula Puskarova has been serving as the Vice-Rector for Research and Doctoral Studies at the University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovakia as of February 2019 and an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Commerce University of Economics in Bratislava. She is also the member of numerous scientific and professional councils as well as decisionmaking bodies of state governance such as the Partnership Council of the Bratislava Self-Governing Region, HELSUS University of Helsinki FInland Scientific Board, Evaluation Committee of the SASPRO2 Social Sciences and Humanities Board, Vice-Chairman of the Science Committee for the Slovak University Council, Vice-Chairman of the Council for European Cooperation of APVV Slovakia, Affiliated Member of the Institute for Central Europe Bratislava and Hugo Observatory University of Liege Belgium, and Governing Board of the Slovak Fulbright Alumni Association.

Earlier, she was a Fulright Post-Doc Research Fellow in 2015/16 and Visiting Professor at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at the Seton Hall University, New Jersey, USA in the Fall 2016/17 where she taught international economics, development economics and research methods. She also has worked on several projects with the Vienna University of Economics and Management (Wirtschaftsuniversitaet Wien) – first as a Research Fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and later did two semesters at the Institute for Economic Geography and Geoinformatics, Vienna University of Economics and Business in 20213/2014.

She has experience with EU-funded project management (coordinator of H2020 GA 692413, work package 5 leader of H2020 GA 822806 MAGYC, coordinator of Erasmus LLP IP No. 13203-1055/BRATISL03, partner of Horizon Europe GA # 101060874 Water4All, Erasmus+ Capacity Building GA #619487 CHILDREN) and in economic modelling (published author in the field of spatial modelling and regional development). She published in Economic Systems, Journal of Geographical Systems, Political Economy, Measurement, Mondes en Developpment, Comparative Economic Research, International Journal of Management and Economics, Economic Research Guardian. Her current research interests entail resilience studies, new economic growth model and spatial externalities arising from international movements of labor and capital.

Dr. Černota is a former vice dean of the Faculty of International Economics at the University of Economics in Bratislava. In his research, Dr. Mikuláš Černota’s focuses on issues of loss of resilience, environmental tensions and policies as well as sustainable development. He is a national expert for the program committee of the Horizon Europe’s Cluster 5: Climate, Energy and Mobility, and a national delegate for the EU Mission Adaptation to Climate Change. Dr. Černota is an experienced practitioner skilled in field work data collection and climate change impacts conceptualization. He has been a research/teaching fellow at University Nancy, Uppsala, Taipei and Helsinki.