Mgr. Zdenek Ludvik

Education:

- 2011 - Bachelor's Degree in International Relations and European Studies, summa cum laude (Metropolitan University Prague);

- 2013 - Master's Degree in International Relations and European Studies, summa cum laude (Metropolitan University Prague);

- 2013 – present - PhD candidate (International Relations and European Studies) at the Department of International Relations, Institute of Political Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences at the Charles University, Prague.

PhD thesis:

Control of territory as a factor for the effective implementation of a political objective of an Islamist violent non-state actor.

Research interests:

Territorial violent non-state actors, Privatization of security, French geopolitics, French foreign policy, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.

Teaching activities:

-Lecturer at the Department of International Relations, Institute of Political Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences at the Charles University, Prague

(course: Territorial Violent Non-State Actors within the International System);

-Lecturer at the College of Regional Development, Prague

(courses: Contemporary security threats; Violent non-state actors in international politics).

Publications:

- The Polarity of the International System in the Changing Global Age of Transnational Relations (Mezinárodní politika 3/2012);

-Sarkozy and Global Dimensions of French Foreign Policy (Mezinárodní politika 4/2012);

- François Hollande – In Search of Lost Faith and Odds Regained – What Actor in International Relations Now France Will Be? (Mezinárodní politika 6/2012);

- Case Study on the Role of Non-State Military Actors in the 2011 Libyan Conflict (CEJISS 3-4/2012, co-author of the article Radana Makariusová);

- The Role of French Private Military Companies in the Security Privatization Sector: Specific Features of the French Approach and a Comparison with Anglo-Saxon Private Military Companies (Obrana a Strategie 1/2013);

- Impact of Militant Non-State Actors: A Case Study on the 2011 Libyan Uprising, chapter in collective monograph Oldřich Bureš et al.: Privatization of Security: Czech and Foreign Experience (Grada Publishing 2013, co-author of the chapter Radana Makariusová);

- The Case of Northern Mali (Azawad) 2012-13: The State and Its Displacement by an Alternative Authority (Obrana a Strategie 2/2014);

- Territorially Anchored Islamist Non-State Actor Using Violence, and the Question of Regulation of System Anarchy (Vojenské rozhledy 3/2015);

- The Competence, Willingness, and Empowerment of Counterinsurgency Forces in Northern Mali in 2012–2013 (Mezinárodní vztahy 2/2016);

- Theoretical Schools of International Relations and Their Reflection in the Typologies of Strategic Approaches to Violent Non-State Actors (Bezpečnostní teorie a praxe 3/2017).

Conferences:

- The Role of Non-State Military Aactors in the Conflict in Libya in 2011(conference at theCenter for Security Studies, Metropolitan University Prague. November 2012);

- The Case of Northern Mali (Azawad) 2012-13: The State and Its Displacement by an Alternative Authority (Fourth Global International Studies Conference – the World International Studies Committee, Frankfurt am Main. August 2014);

- The Case of Northern Mali (Azawad) 2012-13: The State and Its Displacement by an Alternative Authority (African Studies Association of the UK ASAUK – Biennial Conference, Brighton. September 2014).

Grants:

- 2014/15 – co-grantee of a research project "Privatization of Security: Role of Private Sector Actors in Countering Contemporary Security Threats", grant No. P408/11/0395, Grant Agency of the Czech Republic;

- 2014 – present - co-grantee of the Specific AcademicResearch Project of the Institute of Political Studies, Faculty of SocialSciences, Charles University, Prague.

Language skills and competences:

- Native language – Czech;

- Fluent in French, English, and Slovak languages;

- Passive knowledge of Italian, German, and Russian languages.