About

I joined the University of Derby in September 2022. Before coming to Derby, I was a lecturer in international political economy at King's College London (2019 - 2022), a teaching fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies (2017 - 2019) and a teaching associate at Queen Mary University of London (2013 - 2017). My research focuses on comparative politics and political economy in Central and Eastern Europe, questions of dependent capitalist development and industrial policy.

Teaching responsibilities

• Economy and Environment
• Research Methods in Global Affairs

Research interests

• Central and Eastern European politics and political economy
• Dependent capitalist development
• European economic integration
• The role of the state in global value chains
• Industrial policy and the green transition

Membership of professional bodies

• Fellow of Advance HE
• Political Studies Association
• Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics
• British International Studies Association

Qualifications

• PhD Politics (Queen Mary University of London)
• LLM International Development Law and Human Rights (University of Warwick)
• BA International Relations (University of Ljubljana)

Recent conferences

• Just Transition and Alternative Production in Global Value Chains: Case of Central and Eastern Europe, Automotive industry - Just transition and development of alternatives in the international value chains, Rosa Luxembourg Stiftung, Brussels, 27–28 June 2022
• Successful and unsuccessful politicisation of central banking in emerging market economies during the COVID-19 crisis: Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic, co-authored with Marko Lovec, Political Studies Association 72^nd Annual International Conference, York, 11–13 April 2022
• Reconceptualising Dependent Market Economies in East Central Europe Ten Years After the Financial Crisis, SASE 2020 – Virtual Conference, 18–21 July 2020
• Analysing the Economic Dimension of Populist Rule in Post-Crisis Europe: Hungary and Poland, PSA 69th Annual International Conference, Nottingham, 15–17 April 2019
• From Protesting to Supporting a Minority Government: Mapping the Trajectory of the Slovenian Left Party, lecture given as part of the UCL School of Slavic and East European Studies Seminar Series, 23 October 2018

Recent publications

• Toplišek, Alen. 2022. Path dependency and electoral priorities: explaining COVID-19 social support programmes in East-Central Europe, co-authored with Edgars Eihmanis, Nils Oellerich and Jasper Paul Simons. East European Politics. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2022.2122046
• Toplišek, Alen. 2022. Riding the Covid Waves: Authoritarian Socio-Economic Responses of East-Central Europe’s Anti-Liberal Governments, co-authored with Dorothee Bohle, Gergő Medve-Bálint and Vera Šćepanović. East European Politics. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2022.2122044
• Toplišek, Alen, co-edited with Bohle, Dorothee and Eihmanis, Edgars.  2022. The Political Economy of COVID-19 Responses in Central and Eastern Europe. Florence: European University Institute Robert Schuman Centre. [e-book]. Available at: https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/74354, 230 pages
• Toplišek, Alen. 2021. Slovenia – Economy. In Central and South-Eastern Europe 2022, ed. Europa Publications, 22nd edition. Routledge
• Toplišek, Alen. 2020. The Political Economy of Populist Rule in Post-Crisis Europe: Hungary and Poland. New Political Economy 25 (3): 388–403
• Toplišek, Alen. 2019. Liberal Democracy in Crisis: Rethinking Resistance under Neoliberal Governmentality. Palgrave Macmillan, book series ‘The Theories, Concepts and Practices of Democracy’
• Toplišek, Alen. 2019. Between populism and socialism: Slovenia’s Left party. In The Populist Radical Left in Europe, eds. Giorgos Katsambekis and Alexandros Kioupkiolis, 73–92. London: Routledge
• Toplišek, Alen. 2018. Rethinking (De)Politicisation in Liberalism: Between Ephemerality and Institutionalisation of Power. In Comparing Strategies of (De)Politicisation in Europe: Governance, Resistance and Anti-Politics, eds. Jim Buller, Pinar E. Domez, Adam Standring and Matthew Wood, 25–51. Palgrave Macmillan
• Toplišek, Alen. 2017. From protest to party: horizontality and verticality on the Slovenian Left, co-authored with Lasse Thomassen. Europe-Asia Studies 69 (9): 1383–400