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62. Václav Havel European Dialogues - Human rights and values in international affairs
- Author:
- Michael Ignatieff, Martin Palouš, Jiri Pehe, and Jacques Rupnik
- Publication Date:
- 11-2025
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Vaclav Havel Library
- Abstract:
- In the aftermath of 1989, Vaclav Havel thought that human rights, democratic values and foreign policy could advance hand in hand. Today the dominant trend seems, on the contrary, to favour power politics at the expense of Havel’s legacy. The language of human rights, spoken in the past by dissidents, and still used today by lawyers and advocates for victims’ groups, is rarely shared by diplomats and the wider public. In an international arena marked by brutal conflict and war, human rights discourse seems increasingly inadequate. What is left of Havel’s legacy is the possibility to formulate a foreign policy that does not ignore the defence of human rights. The Vaclav Havel Library, in cooperation with the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University and supported by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, invited Michael Ignatieff, politician, academic and author, to address the issue of human rights in international affairs. He discussed this topic with Martin Palouš, Jiri Pehe and Jacques Rupnik, who chaired the event.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Human Rights, International Affairs, European Union, and Democracy
- Political Geography:
- Europe
63. Turkey, Far and Near
- Author:
- Zuzana Kutišová, Mesut Özcan, Veysel Ok, and Tereza Engelová
- Publication Date:
- 10-2025
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Vaclav Havel Library
- Abstract:
- After a century of building a secular state and having recent hopes for EU membership, Turkey, our ally, embarked on a path of harsh repression against political opposition and civil society. Unless it was hit by an earthquake, or we were heading for its beaches, we took virtually zero interest in Turkey. Ready to convince us that this had been a mistake, and that it had been important to monitor the country and keep it as close to Europe as possible, especially in that turbulent world, were Zuzana Kutišová, a PhD student in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at Charles University in Prague, and, remotely, Prof. Burak Bilgehan Özpek, a political scientist at TOBB University of Economics and Technology and a respected expert on Turkish politics and foreign policy, and Veysel Ok, a lawyer for many journalists in Turkey and Co-Director of the Media and Law Studies Association. It was moderated by Tereza Engelová, journalist and documentary filmmaker.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, European Union, Domestic Politics, and Regional Politics
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Turkey, and Middle East
64. The Fragility of Democracy | Interview with the Georgian first female president Salome Zourabichvili
- Author:
- Salomé Zourabichvili and Tomáš Sedláček
- Publication Date:
- 04-2025
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Vaclav Havel Library
- Abstract:
- Salome Zourabichvili, a Georgian politician and the first female president of her country, is set to visit the Czech Republic at the invitation of the Václav Havel Library and of Pavel Fischer, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security of the Senate of the Czech Parliament. Following parliamentary elections in Georgia in October 2024, the pro-Western president said the result had been manipulated by Russia, pledging to remain in office until new elections were held. However, MPs from the ruling Georgian Dream party, which has a majority in parliament after October’s elections, installed Mikheil Kavelashvili as the country’s new president. The director of the Václav Havel Library, Tomáš Sedláček, conducted an interview with Salome Zourabichvili on recent developments in the country, the backsliding of democracy and Georgia’s geopolitical importance at the Václav Havel Library on Wednesday 9 April 2025.
- Topic:
- Politics, Elections, Democracy, Democratic Backsliding, and Foreign Influence
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Eurasia, Caucasus, and Georgia
65. What does Trump's new National Security Strategy mean for the Middle East?
- Author:
- David Hale and Alistair Taylor
- Publication Date:
- 12-2025
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Middle East Institute (MEI)
- Abstract:
- In this episode, MEI Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow Ambassador David Hale joins host Alistair Taylor to unpack the Trump administration’s new National Security Strategy (NSS). Released on December 4, the document outlines the administration’s foreign policy vision, priorities, and approach to global challenges. Ambassador Hale analyzes the new NSS and how it compares to previous US strategy documents. The conversation focuses on what the NSS means for the future of US policy in the Middle East, and how it is likely to be received by regional actors. Recorded on December 9, 2025.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, National Security, Donald Trump, and Strategy
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and United States of America
66. Saudi Arabia: Rise of a global diplomatic power?
- Author:
- Zeina AlShaib, Gregory Gause, and Norman Roule
- Publication Date:
- 03-2025
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Middle East Institute (MEI)
- Abstract:
- Saudi Arabia is increasingly positioning itself at the center of various high-stakes diplomatic processes. In recent months, it has taken on key roles as backer, mediator, or host to ongoing negotiations, including on a Gaza settlement, Russian-US normalization and a cease-fire in Ukraine, support for Lebanon and Syria, as well as efforts to end the Sudanese civil war. How do such Saudi diplomatic interventions fit into the kingdom’s broader political-economic transformation efforts? This on-the-record briefing featured Middle East Institute (MEI) Associate Fellow Norman T. Roule, a 34-year veteran of the CIA whose current work focuses on issues concerning the Gulf states and Iran. The briefing also featured F. Gregory Gause III, Visiting Scholar at MEI and author of three books focused on the Persian Gulf. Our experts assessed Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic ambitions and potential limitations, how the kingdom is navigating the rapidly shifting global geopolitical landscape, and what a weakened Iran means for Riyadh’s role within the Middle Eastern regional balance of power.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Geopolitics, Negotiation, and Mediation
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and Saudi Arabia
67. Emile Bustani Middle East Seminar: Gaza: ‘Can Anyone Hear Us?’
- Author:
- Sara Roy
- Publication Date:
- 04-2024
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The Emile Bustani Middle East Seminar: “Gaza: ‘Can Anyone Hear Us?’" Dr. Sara Roy, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University
- Topic:
- Human Rights and Armed Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Gaza
68. Starr Forum: China: The Rise and Fall of the EAST
- Author:
- Yasheng Huang and Will Knight
- Publication Date:
- 04-2024
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Speaker: Yasheng Huang, Epoch Foundation Professor of Global Economics and Management, MIT Sloan School of Management, and faculty director of the MIT-China Program at the Center for International Studies. Discussant: Will Knight, senior writer, Wired magazine, covers artificial intelligence and other emerging technology. He was previously a senior editor at MIT Technology Review, where he wrote about fundamental advances in AI and China’s AI boom.
- Topic:
- Science and Technology, Geopolitics, and Autocracy
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
69. Mapping exile: Bridging knowledge and advocating for scholars at risk
- Author:
- Pascale Laborier
- Publication Date:
- 03-2024
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- About the speaker: Pascale Laborier is a professor of political science at Paris Nanterre whose research over the past decade has focused on the history of scholars in exile. Some of her recent scholarship has focused on refugee scholars from Uruguay and Chile during the dictatorships. She is one of the founders of PAUSE, a French organization with private and government funding that helps refugee scholars in France find university jobs and funds them for their first year of teaching. Together with an artist-photographer she has created an exposition on these themes that will be shown at MIT in April. The exposition has been shown in Germany, France, and Belgium and currently in Uruguay and Chile.
- Topic:
- Refugees, Advocacy, Exile, and Scholars
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
70. Dying Abroad: The Political Afterlives of Migration in Europe
- Author:
- Osman Balkan
- Publication Date:
- 02-2024
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- On any given day, the remains of countless deceased migrants are shipped around the world to be buried in ancestral soils. Others are laid to rest in countries of settlement, sometimes in cemeteries established for religious and ethnic minorities, where available. For immigrants and their descendants, perennial questions about the meaning of home and homeland take on a particular gravitas in death. When the boundaries of a nation and its members are contested, burial decisions are political acts. Building on multi-sited fieldwork in Berlin and Istanbul – where the author worked as an undertaker – Dying Abroad offers a moving and powerful account of migrants' end-of-life dilemmas, vividly illustrating how they are connected to ongoing political struggles over the stakes of citizenship, belonging, and collective identity in contemporary Europe.
- Topic:
- Migration, Refugees, Identity, and Death
- Political Geography:
- Europe