text: Slovakia's Post-Communist Journey in a Shifting Europe | International Programs
  Pavol Demeš, a Slovak expert on international relations and civil society, will speak on Slovak contemporary foreign policy at a free public talk Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014, at 12:30 p.m. in 1117 University Capitol Centre.
  November 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia. Since that time, Slovakia has worked hard to overcome the communist legacy and become a modern state and part of the Euro-Atlantic democratic family. Now crises in Central Europe, such as Vladimir Putin's efforts to rebuild Russia's military and increase his influence in former Soviet bloc nations and the nationalism of Prime Minister Orban in Hungary, make for a very unsettled Central Europe that could challenge the stability of democracy in Slovakia.
  Demeš is a Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the U.S., external advisor to the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and board member of the European Endowment for Democracy.
  This event, part of the European Studies Group (ESG) Lecture Series is co-sponsored by ESG, UI International Programs, and the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library. For more information, contact luis-martin-estudillo@uiowa.edu.