Geopolitics is experiencing a rebirth, liberal democracies and their values are being put to the test.
Thursday, 15. October 2015, 18:30 – 20:00 h
At the University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 71, 8006 Zurich, KOL-G-201 (Aula)
With the fall of the Iron Curtain over 25 years ago, communism ended and the Soviet Union collapsed. Many countries of the Eastern Bloc then utilised the newly gained freedoms and developed into liberal democracies with a free market economy. Today we see fighting and annexation in Ukraine, quiet conflicts in Transnistria and Nagorno-Karabakh, Islamic fundamentalism, egotistical attitudes of states in Europe and weak international institutions. Geopolitics is experiencing a rebirth, liberal democracies and their values are being put to the test.
Aleksander Kwasniewski, economist and journalist, born in 1954, rose - after an initial political career in the communist People's Republic of Poland - to become leader of the Social Democratic Party and won the presidential elections in 1995. Leaving the SdRP in the same year, he claimed to represent all Poles across party lines. In 2000, he was re-elected for a second term. He contributed to Poland's integration into NATO (1999) and the EU (2004). During his term, he promoted many regional cooperation initiatives in Central and Eastern Europe and maintained particularly good relations with the presidents of Poland's neighbouring countries. During the 2004 crisis in Ukraine, he was an important mediator between the conflicting parties of the so-called Orange Revolution. Also in 2004, he founded the Amicus Europae Foundation, which continues to organise a large number of international projects, conferences, symposia and discussion events. After his term as President, he taught at Georgetown University in Washington D. C. from 2006 to 2010. He is still active in various councils today.