THE READING ROOM AND PUBLISHING ACTIVITIES

Those who wish to gain a broad outlook of the world of social sciences will find the Civic Institute Reading Room an ideal place to explore an ever increasing number of quality books, magazines and other printed material. Ever since it was established, the Civic Institute has endeavored to build up a representative collection of conservative-oriented literature covering the areas of politics, social ethics, economics, law, and political philosophy. Likewise, however, the Reading Room offers books which marked the foundation of a school of thought competing with conservatism – classical liberalism. The Reading Room is widely used by students majoring in social sciences at the Charles University, as well as many other visitors who may not be studying social sciences in college but want to gain a better insight into the subject. The Reading Room has also served as a source of information and data for numerous academic theses.

The Civic Institute has continued publication of its regular monthly CI Bulletin, which brings analyses of important social trends and political events, local and international. On an ongoing basis it also informs the readers of all events relating to the activities of CI as well as its individual staff members. The bulletin invites readers to upcoming lectures and seminars and informs them of new publications. The number of subscribers has continued to grow, now reaching almost six hundred.

The following issues were published throughout the year 2001:

No. 113

Michaela Freiová – Roman Joch: Israeli-Arab Conflict in the World Media

No. 114

Georges Bernanos: Letter to the Europeans

No. 115

Allan Carlson: The UN – From Friend to Foe

No. 116

Michaela Freiová: The Czech Parliament on Issues of Family

No. 117

James Kalb: The Tyranny of Liberalism

No. 118

Roman Joch: 20th Century American Statesmen

No. 119

Francoise Thom: Russian Policy Toward Central Europe

No. 120

Robert P. George: What is Law?

No. 121

John O´Sullivan: The Curse of Euro-Nationalism

No. 122

Marc F. Plattner: The Trouble With Parties

No. 123

Michaela Freiová: Religion and Politics – Pre-Election Reflections

No. 124

Bruno Bandulet: How the European Union Is Governed

Another line of CI publications known as CI Studies has been dedicated to more extensive and in-depth analyses. Issue No. 14 brought a study on the subject of Pension System Reform in Chile written by Luis Larraín.

The list of books published by the Civic Institute grew longer by yet another title: Lectures in Political Philosophy based upon a cycle of seminars known as “Political Philosophy for Civic Society and Free Republic”, organized by CI in the period of 1997-1999 for secondary school teachers of social sciences. Individual papers were drawn up by Michaela Freiová, Roman Joch, Michal Semín, Jaromír Žegklitz, Jiøí Fuchs, Pavel Bratinka and Daniel Kroupa.

Michaela Freiová, Roman Joch and Jaromír Žegklitz frequently contributed with their articles to Czech daily newspapers and magazines (such as MfDnes, Lidové noviny, Distance, Mezinárodní report, Domino-Fórum, Perspektivy, Prostor, Støední Evropa), spoke in radio programs of BBC, Radio Free Europe, Radiožurnál, Proglas, and many times appeared in programs of Czech Television and TV Nova. They often participated as guests and speakers in workshops and conferences organized by other institutions both in the Czech Republic and abroad.

International conference dedicated to Transatlantic Missile Defense and Security Cooperation was held the last Friday in April at Troja Chateau – third such conference dedicated to issues of security. The event was organized by the Prague Institute of National Security in cooperation with the Civic Institute and Washington-based William J. Casey Institute of the Center for Security Policy. The introductory speech by Petr Vanèura and the keynote address by the Chargé d´Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Prague Stephen J. Coffey were followed by the first panel (“Present Missile Threat to Europe and the U.S.”) with speeches delivered by Robert Pfaltzgraff (Professor of Security Studies, Fletcher School of Diplomacy, Tufts University) and Frank Gaffney, President of Center for Security Policy. The second panel (“European-U.S. Relationship in the Context of Alliance Security”) included papers presented by Holger Mey (Director of the Institute of Strategic Studies in Bonn), William F. Martin (former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy) and Ramir Cibrian, the EU ambassador in the Czech Republic. The main speech of the day was delivered by Sir John Walker, former head of British Defence Intelligence Service, followed by papers in the third panel (“The Russian Threat”) presented by former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, professor of contemporary history at Paris University Ms. Francoise Thom, and staff member of the British Conflict Studies Research Centre Mr. James Sherr. The last panel (“The Faltering Post-Communist Central Europe”) was addressed by Piotr Naimsky, foreign policy advisor to the Polish Prime Minister, followed by the President of Budapest-based 20th Century Institute Ms. Marie Schmidt, and finally the Czech Supreme Court Justice Vojtìch Cepl. The closing speech was delivered by the President of the Civic Institute Jaromír Žegklitz.

Regular re-run of the workshop known as Christian Perspective and Free Society, organized by the Civic Institute primarily for college students majoring in social sciences, took place at the end of May and beginning of June. Topics were the same as in previous years, and so were the speakers (Michaela Freiová, Jiøí Fuchs, Roman Joch and Michal Semín). Naturally, the audience was new, as is the case each year.

Identical seminar was organized by the Civic Institute in October in the city of Ostrava, in cooperation with The Conservative Leaves magazine.

In May, the Civic Institute co-organized (along with The Czech Pro-Life Movement and The Association for Legal Protection of Children and Youngsters) a seminar entitled Crisis of Contemporary Family, held in the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament. Speeches were delivered by Member of the Chamber of Deputies Jiøí Karas, Michaela Freiová, Lenka Kuøátková (Association for Child Life), Senator Jiøí Šenkýø, Member of the Chamber of Deputies Marek Benda, Dutch psychologist and psychotherapeutist Gerard J. M. van den Aardweg, and Ondøej Sláma (oncologist, Internal Clinic of Haematooncology, FN in Brno).

By the end of June, the former St. Lawrence Church in Lesser Town of Prague hosted a seminar entitled The Past and the Perspective of Conservative Thinking and Conservative Policy in the Czech Republic, combined with a small celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Civic Institute. Around 70 participants listened to speeches by Alena Hromádková, Roger Scruton, Pavel Bratinka and Petr Koláø.

In October, a three-day seminar was held at Erlebach Chalet in the Giant Mountains under the title Capitalism and the Right. Papers were presented by Petr Bahník (Lipový køíž), Pavel Bartoš (publisher of Obèanské listy), Marcela Bøezinová (Endangered Children Fund), Alena Hromádková (Faculty of Social Science of Charles University), Radomír Malý (Theological Faculty of South-Bohemia University), Ján Pavlík (Liberal Institute), Vít Skalský (Lipový køíž), Roman Joch and Michaela Freiová.

In November, a seminar was held in the conference room of ODS Parliamentary Club on the premises of the Chamber of Deputies, devoted to the subject of Civic Society Versus Political Parties: Role of Civic Society in Contemporary Democracies, jointly organized by the Civic Institute and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. Under chairmanship of Michal Semín, the forum was addressed by Jan Holzer (Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University Brno), Rudolf Kuèera (Faculty of Social Science of Charles University Prague), Jiøí Pehe (New York University Prague), Roman Joch (CI), Marek Benda (Member of the Chamber of Deputies for ODS party) and David Rýc (Chairman of Young Conservatives).

In December, the Senate hosted a seminar inspired by the 60th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, dealing with the issue of The Role Played by America in the World. Whereas the assessments of American interventionist foreign policy presented by Michal Semín and Josef Šíma (the Liberal Institute) were more on a skeptical side and rather critical, their standpoints were in various degrees opposed by Jiøí Schneider (Director of Analyses and Planning Department of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Michael Žantovský (Chairman of the Senate Committee for Foreign Relations, Defense and Security), Pavel Bratinka (Euroffice Praha-Brusel, Chairman of the CI Board) and Roman Joch.

Thanks for financial support of the Civic Institute go first and foremost to the following institutions and individuals (sponsors over 5,000 Czech crowns):

Earhart Foundation

High Car Training, v.o.s.

Wilbur Foundation

Alkona Invest CZ, a.s.

Eva Vorlíèková

Martina a Jiøí Tomáškovi

Soletanche ÈR, s.r.o.

Martin Straka

Petr Pithart

František Stejskal

Unismini-služby, s.r.o.

WME Data, a.s.

Asociace penzijních fondù ÈR

Petr Hampl

Tomáš Ježek

Jiøí Skalický