  The Casimir effect is a quantum phenomenon rooted in the fact that vacuum
fluctuations of quantum fields are affected by the presence of physical objects
and boundaries. Since the energy spectrum of the vacuum fluctuations depends on
distances between (and geometries of) physical bodies, the quantum vacuum
exerts a small but experimentally detectable force on neutral objects. Usually,
the associated Casimir energy is calculated for free or weakly coupled quantum
fields. We review recent studies of the Casimir effect in field-theoretical
models which mimic features of non-perturbative QCD such as chiral or
deconfining phase transitions. We discuss ${{\mathbb C}P}^{\,N-1}$ sigma model
and chiral Gross-Neveu model in (1+1) dimensions as well as compact U(1) gauge
theory and Yang-Mills theory in (2+1) dimensions.
