Slovakia-Struggle for Democracy, Economic Prosperity, and Emancipation in International Relations
Speaker
Professor Peter Terem, WCEE Professional Development FellowDate & time
Location
This is event is open to Ford School and WCEE, WCED and CREES students. Sign up here please. A light lunch will be provided.
The Cold War ended in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the collapse of central planned systems and totalitarian communist regimes in Europe. The Iron Wall had fallen, and the democratization process of society started. After three decades of political and economic changes, it’s time for some recapitulation and evaluation of this period. This talk will offer such an evaluation, focusing on Slovakia and touching on currents in Central and Eastern Europe more broadly. Since 1989, many internal and external factors have shaped the political stability and international reputation of Slovakia. The ideals of the “Velvet revolution” in November 1989 still determine much of the Slovak political scene´s emphasis on respecting democratic principles, freedom and democracy, respect for human rights. But recent years have seen dangerous trends across Europe, including in Slovakia. The talk will examine how rising populism, radicalism, extremism, xenophobia, information war and corruption has manifested itself in several areas due to various internal and external factors.
From the speaker's bio:
Peter Terem, a Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia Professional Development Fellow, is a professor of international relations at Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, Slovak Republic. His background combines academic research and project management with over 22 years of professional experience in scholarly research, teaching, research supervision, and team-leading. His research focuses on nuclear proliferation, foreign policy, and the role of great powers and regional powers in world politics. He has served on the Slovak National Convention on the EU, an expert’s board for the Slovak Ministry of Defense, and as a senior fellow of the GLOBSEC Academy Centre. He was a Fulbright Research Fellow at Boston College in 2015 and received the Outstanding Pedagogue Award from the SPP Foundation in 2008. He has written several books, contributes to international relations journals, and is a political commentator for RTVS (Radio and Television of Slovakia). Professor Terem will visit U-M in September to work on the project “The Concept of Soft Power in the Context of the Transforming International Environment and Its Potential for Small State Strategies” with John D. Ciorciari, associate professor of public policy.