7th International Symposium "Czech Foreign Policy"

The Institute of International Relations in Prague in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Prague organized the 7th International Symposium "Czech Foreign Policy" - The Future of the Global Order: The Challenges for Small Democratic Countries. The event took place on 23-24 September 2015.

23. 9. 2015 (10:00)

The Great Hall, the Czernin Palace, MFA, Loretanske namesti 5

7th International Symposium "Czech Foreign Policy"

The Future of the Global Order: The Challenges for Small Democratic Countries

23 - 24 September 2015

Ever since World War II, the way world affairs have been managed displayed a tendency towards a rule-based, multilateral "world order". Owing to this general tendency (and contributing to it themselves), small democratic countries in Europe and throughout the world have enjoyed an unprecedented level of stability, security, influence and perhaps even prestige. For decades, there has been a capacity of the world order to reform itself without shifting its fundamental principles. However, this adaptability also led to the increasing fragility of the order as a whole. As a result, there is a growing number of those who argue that the adequacy and legitimacy of the present arrangements and institutions of the international order are rapidly weakening. The tendency towards multilateralism and rule-based order slowed down significantly during the past decade or so, and it even seems to have come to a complete halt – if not to a reversal of its former course – quite recently. The small democratic countries are those which have most to lose if the international society turns its back on the norms and rules that have co-defined world affairs for the past 70 years.

The 7th symposium thus aimed to tackle some of the most pressing questions of today:

Will the new rising power become a part of a solution of the problem of the present liberal order or a part of the dissolution thereof?
What can the small democratic countries do to tackle this challenge and infuse more credibility into the multilateral global order?
How should they live, communicate and even cooperate with countries that have the status of major international or regional players but refuse to adhere to the norms and even the values cherished by democratic countries?

Programme

Click on the name of the panel to see a video from it.

WEDNESDAY 23

Opening Address by Steven Kashkett
Round Table: Think Tanks, Universities and Research Institutes as Partners in Government’s Diplomacy
Keynote Address by Karel Kovanda
The Future of (Liberal) Global Order: Central European Perspectives
The European Union and the Multilateral Order: the Eastern Partnership between Instrument and Policy

THURSDAY 24

Opening Address by Minister Lubomír Zaorálek
The Future of Global Order and Challenges for Democratic Countries
Keynote Address by Walter Russel Mead and discussion with Jiri Ruzicka
The Czech Foreign Policy and the Future of Global Order: Between Activism and Free Riding
Between Ignorance, Prejudice and Partnership: Politicians, Journalists, Diplomats and Experts and the Prospects of the Czech Foreign Policy

WEDNESDAY 23

Symposium Opening: Michal Kořan, Deputy Director, Institute of International Relations Prague

Opening Address by Steven Kashkett, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of the United States of America in Prague

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArZi_jagwC8[/youtube]

Round Table: Think Tanks, Universities and Research Institutes as Partners in Government’s Diplomacy

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXzsaHpdmVA[/youtube]

Keynote Address and Discussion

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHceo2z0thg[/youtube]

The Future of (Liberal) Global Order: Central European Perspectives

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I00WZILiVl8[/youtube]

The European Union and the Multilateral Order: the Eastern Partnership between Instrument and Policy

(an international roundtable organized by the Association for International Affairs (AMO) and supported by the International Visegrad Fund)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-HrkYhylW4[/youtube]

Opening speech: Štefan Füle, Former European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic