The Institute of International Relations (IIR) is an independent public research institution which conducts scholarly research in the area of international relations. Its founder is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.

The Institute of International Relations follows three basic goals. 1) to conduct internationally recognized, excellent research in the field of international studies. 2) to influence the formation and the conduct of foreign policy of the Czech Republic. 3) to increase awareness of issues of international relations both among professionals and among the public.

The IIR thus forms a link between the academic world, the public and international political practice. The Main activities of the Institute of International Relations comprise of: 1) Basic and applied research of international relations, often in the framework of Czech, as well as international, projects (on average six international and eleven Czech projects a year). 2) Publication activities in the form of proceedings, periodicals, treatises, articles in scholarly literature, and in policy papers. 3) Organization of scholarly events - conferences, seminars, round table discussions and presentations (twenty per year). 4) Cooperation with many governmental organizations and NGOs such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Czech Academy of Science, University of Economics in Prague, Charles University, Trans European Policy Studies Association, European Consortium for Political Research, etc. 5) IIR public library services - the library archives contain some 70.000 (especially foreign) publications, including 400 periodicals. 6) Educational activities, such as student internships and a Ph.D. studies programme which the IIR organizes in co-operation with the Metropolitan University Prague.