The Center for Comparative and International Studies (CIS Zurich) stands for innovation and excellence in research and teaching in the fields of international relations and comparative politics. Launched in 1997 as a joint initiative of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and the University of Zurich, CIS brings together scholars from the fields of democracy, markets and politics, political violence and sustainable development, a fusion that has made it one of the leading political science research centers in Europe.