INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS- AND POLITICAL SCIENCE- RELATED EVENTS IN CZECHIA
For anyone who is passionate about social studies (and especially international relations) the Czech Republic is home to many interesting conferences and annual events—often in English! You can always check the event pages to make sure (and certain sessions may be in Czech), but many larger events will be held in English for an international audience. The Institute of International Relations, a public research institution set up by a charter of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, hosts several events that I have not yet attended but which sound very interesting such as…
- The Czernin Security Forum. As the name suggests, this event is focused on security issues with the aim of addressing some of the most pertinent international political issues and usually taking place in autumn (October/November).
- The Intercultural Dialogue Conference. This is another autumn conference that promotes intercultural and interfaith dialogue by providing a platform for experts, policymakers, youth, and the general public to share thoughts and ideas.
- And the Prague European Summit. This conference takes place at different times of the year and provides a platform for strategic dialogue about challenges facing the EU such as leadership, security, and new technologies.
There are also a couple of IIR events that I was able to attend such as the annual International Symposium on Czech Foreign Policy which also usually takes place sometime in the autumn. The focus is on Czech foreign policy from the viewpoint of different research fields and brings together specialists from various fields, politicians, academics, and the public and media.
In addition to the IIR annual conferences, there are sometimes other events such as the Czech Pre-Presidency Conference. The Czech Republic took up the Presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1. July 2022 (lasing until 31. December 2022) so this conference was held in May to discuss the agenda and challenges of the presidency. I was an intern with IIR at the time, so I was also responsible for helping to write the final report for the conference. It was very interesting to hear about some of the priorities for the Czech presidency especially in the context of the security crisis following the invasion of Ukraine.
Another important Czech organization is Forum 2000, a foundation started by Václav Havel, Yohei Sasakawa (a Japanese philanthropist), and Elie Wiesel (Nobel Peace Prize Laureate) in 1996. They run a number of projects and put together a yearly conference with the mission of bringing together people from different countries and from different disciplines of knowledge. The annual conference is by invitation only but there are several options for working or volunteering with the Foundation such as hosting or report-writing. I attended as a rapporteur which was a great experience because I was able to listen to the panels and just had to take notes and write a short summary at the end of my assigned sessions.
Most recently, I was able to come to the 2022 Brno Urban Mobility Days, an event put on by the EU and CIVITAS during mobility week at the Brno Exhibition Centre. The focus was on discussing developments in sustainable urban mobility and EU initiative, including several that have now spread beyond Europe. While not directly related to international relations, building sustainable communities should be a concern for everyone and our collective success or failure in this realm has real implications for governance, politics, and international relations more broadly.
All in all, the Czech Republic has a lot to offer for people looking to get involved in international relations outside of university—and that’s not even counting the many more opportunities in neighbouring countries just a quick train ride away!