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Upcoming Events

International Conference Focuses On Asia-Pacific Security Challenges

PSSI Washington will co-sponsor a major conference to be convened in Prague on September 7–9, 2008 under the auspices of the Prague Security Studies Institute (www.pssi.cz), entitled “Asia-Pacific Security Challenges: Implications for Europe and the Atlantic Alliance.”

Given the growing importance of East Asia to European policy deliberations as well as those of the Atlantic Alliance, PSSI Prague and Washington judged it appropriate to bring together high-level current and former policy makers, NGO representatives, journalists, academics and business executives to discuss the most pressing security challenges of the Asia-Pacific region and their global implications.

Among the featured speakers will be (at this writing), former President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel, Japanese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Mitoji Yabunaka, former Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency James Woolsey, Richard Lawless, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Alliance Security and other distinguished participants. An outline [PDF, 96 kB] and program [PDF, 144 kB] of the conference can be found here. PSSI Washington will provide the working agenda as soon as it is feasible.

To attend and/or financially support this important international gathering, please contact Jana Kosarkova at janakosarkova@pssiwashington.org, or call 202-342-0668.

Previous Events

Democracy & Security Conference

Prague, June 5–6, 2007

The Prague Security Studies Institute in cooperation with The Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem and The Foundation for Social Analysis and Studies convened an international conference entitled “Democracy and Security: Core Values and Sound Policies” on June 5–6 in Prague. The featured speaker at the conference was US President George W. Bush who provided a 50-minute address to a distinguished audience that included dissidents from some 17 countries.

The conference agenda was designed to explore the proposition that there exists a direct linkage between the promotion of democracy and the strengthening of security. The policy focus of the conference aimed to examine this linkage delineated in recent statements and publications by Natan Sharansky and Jose M. Aznar. The connectivity between human rights and political relations became a guiding principle for the Helsinki Process and a central theme in the writings of Vaclav Havel, Natan Sharansky and other freedom fighters. The Helsinki process helped set the stage for the end of the Cold War and has become a subject of intense historic scrutiny and discussion.

The choice of Prague as the venue for the conference underscored the relevance of this process for recent developments in Central and Eastern Europe. This conference served as a forum for debate and discussion among prominent and leading dissidents, pro-democracy advocates and political leaders to examine anew the nexus between democracy and international security by analyzing on-going global challenges. The three public policy organizations were uniquely positioned to facilitate what were insightful exchanges with respect to these challenges.

For more information about the Democracy and Security Conference please visit www.democracyandsecurity.org. We also recommend that those interested review a special edition PSSI newsletter [PDF, 875 kB] dedicated to the conference available on this website.

Groundbreaking Conference on Missile Defense in Europe

19 April, 2007

PSSI Washington co-sponsored its first event since its opening in January of this year on the prospects and challenges of missile defense in Europe.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Karel Schwarzenberg, opened this event with a lucid explanation of the official Czech position on this matter. Other distinguished speakers included Hon. Robert G. Joseph, former Under Secretary, Arms Control and International Security, U.S. Department of State, Hon. Daniel Fried, Assistant Secretary of State for Europe, Brigadier General Patrick O’Reilly, Deputy Director, Missile Defense Agency, Ellen Tauscher, Chair, Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, House Armed Services Committee, Dr. Andrzej Karkoszka, former Polish State Secretary for Defense and Director of the Strategic Defense Review and Robert Bell, former Assistant Secretary General of NATO.

The conference program entitled “Third Site: Missile Defense in Europe” was co-sponsored by the Atlantic Council of the United States.