photographed by Michaela Nespěchalová

Interview with Vladan Hodulák - lecturer, Department of International Relations and European Studies

Interviewed by Abhinav Banerjee, March 2024

1. How did you start your academic career and what is your field of focus?

I did my PhD at the Department of International Relations here in Brno at Masaryk University, and I did it on the relationship between power and international monetary systems. So, I am very much interested in this area of research, and I think it is exciting because it reveals a lot about how power and money are intertwined. This is something that people are excited about a lot, but they have little awareness of what's going on, how they are related, and how they shape their lives.

2. What motivated you to pursue this field?

I've always been a problem solver, so I have always been interested in how to make things better and the world around us better, and I thought I could be helpful in this way if I try to figure it out. I am a big believer in science and scientific methods, so I thought, let's figure it out and find out what's the best way to organize our society. Money, economics, and power are probably the most important things in the way society is organized or run, and therefore, that's why I should focus on these specific areas. That's what I have been doing for several years now, over a decade, and I think that I have come closer to understanding what's going on, but also my frustration has increased because the more you know, the more you realize that there is still a lot to know. You always tend to be much more nuanced, and you start thinking about or you start answering questions in a way that always somehow includes the "it depends." The easy answers are usually not the correct answers, so it usually depends on something else. And that's why you have to be much more nuanced, and that makes it a little bit more frustrating. But at the same time, I'm happy that I've chosen this.

3. Could you talk about some of the projects you participated in in your career and which one has been the most exciting so far?

Well, since I do what I do, most of the things that I have done have some practical relevance, so the last one we did publish a chapter in a book published by Routledge, and it was on the euro and Central Europe. My colleague and I focused on the Czech Republic, and we were trying to figure out why the Czech Republic had not joined the euro by then and why it has not joined now. This is quite topical because the President of the Czech Republic opened the debate again about the Czech Republic joining the euro earlier this year and about the reasons why the Czech Republic has not joined the Eurozone. So far, these are not the reasons why I would recommend against joining the European Union for scientific reasons. These are much more policy-related reasons, and there is some path dependency and so on. But I have my doubts about the positives. I am not sure about the euro being a net positive for the Czech Republic. I'm not strictly against it and again, it depends. We can go into more detail about why, but in general, the reasons why the Czech Republic has not joined the euro are much more political. So, I think the reasons that we should focus much more on have not been properly addressed. This is one of the things that I can say that has been topical and has practical relevance but has also revealed how sometimes frustrating it can be.

4. What has been your favourite course to teach, and something that you would recommend to the current students who are here?

I teach a lot of courses, but choosing one of them is difficult. I teach two types of courses: undergraduate and graduate levels. The undergraduate-level courses cover the basics of international relations and social sciences theory, while the graduate-level courses are more focused on the theory of international relations. My field of research is in international political economy, which is why I primarily focus on that subject matter.

The courses on international political economy are divided into two types: undergraduate and graduate levels. The undergraduate-level courses cover the basics of money, comparative advantage, and other exciting topics that reveal important things about how the world works. On the other hand, graduate-level courses are more challenging as they build on that knowledge. Often, I find myself having to reteach topics that I hoped students would already know. Despite the difficulties, I'm quite happy with the results, and I find it all very exciting.

Teaching these courses is important to me because I believe they provide practical knowledge that can help people in their lives. Topics like nominal and real values in economics, nominal and real interest rates, and redistributive effects are crucial in reshaping power structures within societies, both internally and externally between states. Many people are unaware of these concepts and how they determine their status and wealth in their societies. By enrolling in these courses, students can gain practical knowledge that they can utilize in their daily lives.

5. You are also on the committee for the final state exams, what are some of the problems the students face?

Time management. Schedule your workload properly and track your progress. Don't underestimate the initial phases because it's during those phases that you have to figure out what you are focusing on and sort out what you will write about. What are the proper research questions or hypotheses? Write a preliminary introduction so that you know what you are doing and what you will do. So, the initial phase is to structure your workload. The other mistake is in the initial phase because this is usually crucial. People who read your work will almost always start with the introduction, then they will probably jump to the conclusion. After that, they might go through the body of your text. Students tend to underestimate the importance of their interaction and their conclusion. They usually write their thesis and say, "Okay, I will write the introduction afterward". Well, this is probably the worst thing you can do. First, write the preliminary introduction. You will probably rewrite it partially at the end, but it will help you tremendously in your writing process.

6. Do you have any messages for the current or prospective students?

Try to balance your studies with your personal life, or maybe with your work, and try to do the difficult things as earliest as possible. Do the most difficult parts of your studies first and then you will have some free time for yourself or for the things that you enjoy. This applies even to your work. Try to balance it, but the most effective way is counterintuitive: start with the hardest things first and you will have more time for other things, which might be surprising. This is a hard lesson that I had to go through and I think this is the best piece of advice I can offer.

You can also listen to the interview on our Spotify channel FSS lounge.