Slavomír Horák
Biographic Data
| ID | 4075264 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Slavomír Horák |
| GIVEN NAMES | Slavomír |
| FAMILY NAME | Horák |
| SIGNATURE | HORAK S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Charles University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6721-2505 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 32 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 9 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
To Be or Not to Be… Georgians? Sub-Ethnic Groups and the Georgian Nation
This article examines the identities of three sub-ethnic and ethnographic groups in Georgia – Adjarians, Megrelians, and Tushetians – and their relationship to the Georgian nation in political and ethnic terms. Drawing on fieldwork conducted between 2022 and 2023, the study explores how these groups navigate their distinct cultural markers, such as religion, language, and traditions, while engaging with the broader national identity. Using the th…
The 2022 protests in Karakalpakstan. From lost autonomy to regional identity consolidation
The eruption of protests within consolidated authoritarian regimes is an infrequent event seen by many scholars as resulting from the separatist intentions of a regional elite enabled by autonomy. In this article, by analysing the July 2022 protest events in Karakalpakstan we challenge this assumed link and instead propose that the emergence of large-scale protests formed as a grassroots reaction to the symbolic loss of the region’s nominal auton…
The fate of sacred places in Nagorny Karabakh as a symbol of unsuccessful conflict transformation
The 2020 war in Nagorny Karabakh brought not merely a shift in the actual borders in the southern Caucasus; it also led to a change in control over several religious buildings or places that had become sacralized as symbols for one or the other side. Using selected examples of sacred places associated with Armenian or Azerbaijani historical memory, this article seeks to cast light on the fate of cultural monuments in war and its aftermath. In con…
Turkmenistan in Eurasian railway geopolitics
Central Asian railways are usually discussed in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative, and most studies deal with the main railway line at the heart of this grandiose China-backed project. Turkmenistan represents a somewhat extraordinary example due to the state’s massive investments in railways, which have almost doubled the length of the country’s rail network in recent decades. The building of the new railways was aimed at linking Turkme…
Leadership Succession in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan: Between Stability and Instability
In some countries, the death of an authoritarian leader raises concerns among political scientists, analysts and political decision-makers about subsequent instability. Informal mechanisms for regime change are seldom in place. Two recent transitions in Central Asia—Turkmenistan in 2006 and Uzbekistan in 2016—have shown that authority can be transferred calmly and peacefully. This paper examines the reasons for the stable transition process—and t…
Strategies of legitimation in Central Asia: Regime durability in Turkmenistan
Located in current debates on one party dictatorships and regime durability, this article explores continuity and disruptions within the Turkmen political elite in their transition from presidents Saparmurat Niyazov (1991–2006) to Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov (2007-). We are particularly interested in how the change from an idiosyncratic system, based mainly on president Niyazov's personality cult and visible repression of potential opponents, evolv…
The Battle of Gökdepe in the Turkmen post-Soviet historical discourse
The Battle of Gökdepe (1881) is considered to be a turning point in Turkmenistan's contemporary historiography. It led to the then independent Turkmen (Akhal Tekke in this case) tribes coming under Russian control. Almost immediately after the event the battle became a controversial point of interpretation starting from Turkmen sources (rarely known to us), an immense number of Russian (mostly military) sources, up to the Soviet historians. The p…
A tale of two presidents: Personality cult and symbolic nation-building in Turkmenistan
This article proposes a comparison of the attitudes of the first and second presidents of Turkmenistan to discuss possible overlap between personality cult, as it has been initiated and developed by the two presidents after independence, and nation-building narratives in the country. Nation-building in post-Soviet spaces has been studied comprehensively, but this paper is distinguished by two interpretative frameworks. First, this article is poss…
Turkmenistan's Shifting Energy Geopolitics in 2009-2011: European Perspectives
Although European customers are potential energy partners for Turkmenistan, obstacles on the transit route may cause Europe's efforts to fail in comparison with the more assertive and effective policies of China, Russia, Iran, and India
A tale of two presidents: Personality cult and symbolic nation-building in Turkmenistan
This article proposes a comparison of the attitudes of the first and second presidents of Turkmenistan to discuss possible overlap between personality cult, as it has been initiated and developed by the two presidents after independence, and nation-building narratives in the country. Nation-building in post-Soviet spaces has been studied comprehensively, but this paper is distinguished by two interpretative frameworks. First, this article is poss…
Strategies of legitimation in Central Asia: Regime durability in Turkmenistan
Located in current debates on one party dictatorships and regime durability, this article explores continuity and disruptions within the Turkmen political elite in their transition from presidents Saparmurat Niyazov (1991–2006) to Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov (2007-). We are particularly interested in how the change from an idiosyncratic system, based mainly on president Niyazov's personality cult and visible repression of potential opponents, evolv…
The Battle of Gökdepe in the Turkmen post-Soviet historical discourse
The Battle of Gökdepe (1881) is considered to be a turning point in Turkmenistan's contemporary historiography. It led to the then independent Turkmen (Akhal Tekke in this case) tribes coming under Russian control. Almost immediately after the event the battle became a controversial point of interpretation starting from Turkmen sources (rarely known to us), an immense number of Russian (mostly military) sources, up to the Soviet historians. The p…
Leadership Succession in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan: Between Stability and Instability
In some countries, the death of an authoritarian leader raises concerns among political scientists, analysts and political decision-makers about subsequent instability. Informal mechanisms for regime change are seldom in place. Two recent transitions in Central Asia—Turkmenistan in 2006 and Uzbekistan in 2016—have shown that authority can be transferred calmly and peacefully. This paper examines the reasons for the stable transition process—and t…
Turkmenistan's Shifting Energy Geopolitics in 2009-2011: European Perspectives
Although European customers are potential energy partners for Turkmenistan, obstacles on the transit route may cause Europe's efforts to fail in comparison with the more assertive and effective policies of China, Russia, Iran, and India
Turkmenistan's Shifting Energy Geopolitics in 2009-2011: European Perspectives
Although European customers are potential energy partners for Turkmenistan, obstacles on the transit route may cause Europe's efforts to fail in comparison with the more assertive and effective policies of China, Russia, Iran, and India
The Battle of Gökdepe in the Turkmen post-Soviet historical discourse
The Battle of Gökdepe (1881) is considered to be a turning point in Turkmenistan's contemporary historiography. It led to the then independent Turkmen (Akhal Tekke in this case) tribes coming under Russian control. Almost immediately after the event the battle became a controversial point of interpretation starting from Turkmen sources (rarely known to us), an immense number of Russian (mostly military) sources, up to the Soviet historians. The p…
A tale of two presidents: Personality cult and symbolic nation-building in Turkmenistan
This article proposes a comparison of the attitudes of the first and second presidents of Turkmenistan to discuss possible overlap between personality cult, as it has been initiated and developed by the two presidents after independence, and nation-building narratives in the country. Nation-building in post-Soviet spaces has been studied comprehensively, but this paper is distinguished by two interpretative frameworks. First, this article is poss…
Strategies of legitimation in Central Asia: Regime durability in Turkmenistan
Located in current debates on one party dictatorships and regime durability, this article explores continuity and disruptions within the Turkmen political elite in their transition from presidents Saparmurat Niyazov (1991–2006) to Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov (2007-). We are particularly interested in how the change from an idiosyncratic system, based mainly on president Niyazov's personality cult and visible repression of potential opponents, evolv…
Leadership Succession in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan: Between Stability and Instability
In some countries, the death of an authoritarian leader raises concerns among political scientists, analysts and political decision-makers about subsequent instability. Informal mechanisms for regime change are seldom in place. Two recent transitions in Central Asia—Turkmenistan in 2006 and Uzbekistan in 2016—have shown that authority can be transferred calmly and peacefully. This paper examines the reasons for the stable transition process—and t…
The fate of sacred places in Nagorny Karabakh as a symbol of unsuccessful conflict transformation
The 2020 war in Nagorny Karabakh brought not merely a shift in the actual borders in the southern Caucasus; it also led to a change in control over several religious buildings or places that had become sacralized as symbols for one or the other side. Using selected examples of sacred places associated with Armenian or Azerbaijani historical memory, this article seeks to cast light on the fate of cultural monuments in war and its aftermath. In con…
Turkmenistan in Eurasian railway geopolitics
Central Asian railways are usually discussed in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative, and most studies deal with the main railway line at the heart of this grandiose China-backed project. Turkmenistan represents a somewhat extraordinary example due to the state’s massive investments in railways, which have almost doubled the length of the country’s rail network in recent decades. The building of the new railways was aimed at linking Turkme…
The 2022 protests in Karakalpakstan. From lost autonomy to regional identity consolidation
The eruption of protests within consolidated authoritarian regimes is an infrequent event seen by many scholars as resulting from the separatist intentions of a regional elite enabled by autonomy. In this article, by analysing the July 2022 protest events in Karakalpakstan we challenge this assumed link and instead propose that the emergence of large-scale protests formed as a grassroots reaction to the symbolic loss of the region’s nominal auton…
To Be or Not to Be… Georgians? Sub-Ethnic Groups and the Georgian Nation
This article examines the identities of three sub-ethnic and ethnographic groups in Georgia – Adjarians, Megrelians, and Tushetians – and their relationship to the Georgian nation in political and ethnic terms. Drawing on fieldwork conducted between 2022 and 2023, the study explores how these groups navigate their distinct cultural markers, such as religion, language, and traditions, while engaging with the broader national identity. Using the th…
Political science (7 works) · Politics (7 works) · Law (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Soviet and Russian History (5 works) · Art (4 works) · Economics (4 works) · Narrative (4 works) · Sociology (4 works) · Aesthetics (3 works)