Events
The Third Side of the Cold War: Movement of the Non-aligned States, Yugoslavia and the World
April 03, 2013 // 12:00pm — 1:00pm
Drawing on the private document collections of two former Yugoslav ministers of foreign affairs, Tvrtko Jakovina renders an account of Tito's last years in office and the role Yugoslavia played as the leader of the Movement of the Non-aligned Countries from 1960s until 1990s.
The Sandzak Divided: Language and Identity Politics on Either Side of the New Serbian/Montenegrin Border
March 28, 2013 // 12:00pm — 1:00pm
In the post-Yugoslav context, members of these Muslim communities have largely self-identified as Bosniaks, an ethnic/national term that gained prominence among Bosnian Muslims in the period immediately following the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991 and the outbreak of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. While language policies in this region were centrally formulated in the joint state, with the dissolution of the Republic of Serbia and Montenegro in 2006, the two halves of the Sandžak experienced divergent language policies. In his presentation, Robert Greenberg, professor of linguistics at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, argues that the division of the Sandžak may have been a catalyst for destabilizing and radicalized forces to emerge in the years following the formal Serbia/Montenegro split.
1989 After 1989: Memory in Transition in Central and Eastern Europe
March 14, 2013 // 12:00pm — 1:00pm
The eastern European revolutions of 1989 were a watershed in global history. Despite this, in the two decades since, their meaning has become a source of debate. While they have been promoted as a founding myth for a newly unified Europe, eastern Europeans have repeatedly represented them as a moment of betrayal, martyrdom, liberation, victory, disappointment, loss, colonization, or nostalgia.
Stalin’s Curse: Battling for Communism in War and Cold War
March 05, 2013 // 12:00pm — 1:00pm
"Exciting, deeply engaged, and shrewdly perceptive, Stalin's Curse is an unprecedented revelation of the sinister machinations of Stalin's Kremlin." Based on newly declassified archival materials author Robert Gellately offers a more clearly defined picture of what went on behind the scenes.
On the Edge of the Cold War: American Diplomats and Spies in Postwar Europe
January 23, 2013 // 12:00pm — 1:30pm
Drawing on archival documents and testimonies of high-ranking American diplomats and intelligence officers, "On the Edge of the Cold War" explores the postwar political crisis in former Czechoslovakia from the perspective of the U.S. Embassy under Laurence Steinhardt and of U.S. Intelligence under Charles Katek and Spencer Taggart. The book paints a critical portrait of Ambassador Steinhardt, and shows that his groundless optimism caused Washington to ignore signs that democracy in Czechoslovakia was in trouble.
U.S. Foreign Policy – A Time to Stop Drifting? A British Perspective
January 15, 2013 // 9:30am — 10:30am
Offering a European perspective on U.S. foreign policy, Lord Lothian - Member of the House of Lords and former UK Member of Parliamen - will focus on the global effect of the pivot to the Asia-Pacific region. The discussion will touch upon the implications this may have for the future of the Euro-Atlantic relationship in the context of the volatile state of world affairs.
Is Europe facing a new Era? The Treaty on Stability and the Struggle for Economic Sovereignty in a Political Perspective
December 06, 2012 // 3:00pm — 4:00pm
The current European crisis is not only the crisis of a single country or the crisis of a small group of countries; this crisis is structural. It is not a crisis similar to the 1929 crisis, or similar to the crisis of the 70s. To face it the European Union (without the United Kingdom) has agreed to sign a Treaty on Stability, which is intended to provide economic measures to reduce public debt and to control public finance. This system, however, has a critical weakness: it perpetuates the gap existing between a fully integrated economic system and independent political decision making on the part of EU member states.
Andreas Papandreou: The Making of a Greek Democrat and Political Maverick
December 03, 2012 // 12:00pm — 1:30pm
Greece in the 1960s produced one of Europe's arguably most controversial post-WWII politicians. Andreas Papandreou’s maverick politics grew out of his conflict laden re-engagement with Greece in the 1960s. In this biography of Andreas Papandreou, the author Stan Draenos chronicles the events, struggles and ideas that defined the man's dramatic, intrigue-filled transformation from Kennedy-era modernizer to Cold War maverick.
The Life of a Vilna Ghetto Rescuer: Reading, Writing, Remembering
November 26, 2012 // 2:30pm — 3:30pm
Julija Šukys, author of Epistolophilia: Writing the Life of Ona Šimaitė, carefully collected, preserved, and archived the written record of the life of Ona Šimaitė. Šimaitė, a librarian at Vilnius University, used her position to aid and rescue Jews in the Vilna Ghetto.
Twenty Years of Independence: Reflections on Freedom and Democracy
November 16, 2012 // 12:00pm — 1:00pm
This Director's Forum will feature Martin Bútora, Honorary President of the Institute for Public Affairs in Bratislava and former Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to the United States (1999-2003). Ambassador Bútora will deliver the keynote address at the 13th annual Czech and Slovak Freedom Lecture.