What does Germany’s international responsibility mean? In his speech at the opening event of the 15th Annual Foreign Policy Conference Prof. Dr. Heinrich August Winkler illustrates the historical development of Europe. The German opening towards the political culture of the West is the most important lesson drawn from the Age of Extremes, according to the historian.
On the Way Towards Greater International Responsibility? "In a globalised world that is closely interconnected through trade, investment, migration and the Internet, a ‘without us’ attitude just isn’t realistic", emphazised Ralf Fücks in his opening speech of our 15th Annual Foreign Policy Conference, which asked for current status of Germany's foreign policy.
The Future of the EU from the Visegrad perspective: Common concerns or common visions? Even if the EU evolves towards a deeper integrated entity, it is likely that not all the current Members States will be involved in the same way. What influence would it have in the Visegrad cooperation? Is it an opportunity or a challenge? Is the Visegrad group a useful platform for cooperation in the EU issues in general or just in natural particular policies? What strategic interests these countries share and where are they moving apart?
When the Dust Settles in Arabia Just a few years ago, the Libyan (ex?) leader Gaddafi addressed a group of European women in a tent erected symbolically in Rome about how Islam would conquer Europe within one generation. His recipe was simple and wonderfully imaginative; through population growth in the spirit of the biblical “make love and multiply”, humble and fertile Islamic women would “out-produce” the spoiled and infertile women of the West. As the Europeans disappeared, their lebensraum would be occupied by a growing population of immigrants from the Islamic world.
An inch closer to a world without nuclear weapons Almost exactly one year since his last visit, US President Barack Obama has returned to Prague. One year ago, he publicly declared his vision for a world without nuclear weapons. Today, together with his counterpart, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, he has signed a treaty that some international commentators call the most concrete foreign-policy achievement of the US president so far.
Is the Czech Republic Still Abstaining on Human Rights? When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the UN in 1948, eight of its 48 member countries abstained from the final vote: South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Yugoslavia, USSR, Belarus, Poland, Ukraine and Czechoslovakia. While watching developments in human rights protections in the Czech Republic over the past 15 years, I have often reflected on the repercussions of that abstention. The Charter 77 movement, which resulted in Civic Forum and the democratic transition of 1989, has been lauded internationally, especially in the English-speaking world, for having based its challenge to totalitarianism on demanding respect for human rights.
Eastern Partnership and the Caucasus With its new Eastern Partnership (EaP), the EU has opened a new chapter in European Eastern Policy, and from the very beginning it aims to involve civil society. The Eastern Partnership was initiated by the Polish and Swedish governments in the spring of 2008, and on December 3, 2008 the EU Commission presented its proposal for an EaP that would consist of a set of bilateral and multilateral initiatives seriously stepping up relations between the EU and its Eastern neighbours.