Vision and mission

The IIR's mission is to conduct internationally recognized, excellent research in the field of international studies, contribute to the formation and conduct of the foreign policy of the Czech Republic, and increase awareness of issues of international relations among both professionals and the general public. Its expertise grows from theoretical diversity, intellectual rigour, and advanced analytical and research methods.

Thus, the IIR forms a unique link between the academic world, the public, and international diplomatic practice. In line with its motto #ExpertiseToImpact, it contributes to the formulation and implementation of a Czech foreign policy that is based on the values of democracy, rule of law, human dignity, and promoting social equality; and mainstreams independent and carefully tended expertise about international politics in the public debate.

The traditional recipient of the IIR's research is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and other public institutions. The public can get to know the Institute’s achievements via the series of policy papers, policy briefs, reflections, and analyses of foreign policy it publishes. The Institute moreover organizes dozens of events every year - conferences, seminars, roundtable discussions, and presentations, that bring together experts, diplomats and civil servants, politicians, representatives of the private and non-governmental sectors, students, and the general public. The archives of the IIR's Otto Pick International Relations Library, which is open to the public, contain some 70,000 (mainly foreign) publications, including 400 periodicals.,
While pursuing its goals, the IIR cooperates with many leading foreign and domestic academic institutions and think tanks. It is a member of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR), the Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA), the EU Nonproliferation and Disarmament Consortium (EUNPD), and the Think Visegrad platform, and it is also the National Coordinator for the Anna Lindh Foundation.
Following the introduction of the new National Assessment of Science and Research (M17+), in the last two years, the IIR has received the highest possible rating in it, which is reserved for "internationally competitive institutions and/or institutions with strong innovation potential and excellent applied research results."

The activities of the IIR are financed from the government budget for science, research, and innovation of the Czech Republic, on the basis of horizontal cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, from domestic and international projects, and by sales of its publications.