Скачать или смотреть Havel Conversation, Jiri Pehe in discussion with Marilyn Wyatt

HAVEL CONVERSATIONS ON ZOOM: Jiri Pehe in Discussion with Dr. Marilyn Wyatt
Sunday, February 21, 2021

The second of our 2021 Havel Conversations series features Czech journalist and political writer Jiri Pehe. Former chief political advisor to President Havel and now the director of New York University’s center in Prague, Pehe is a shrewd observer of both the American and European political scenes. He talks with VHLF board member Dr. Marilyn Wyatt, a longtime resident of Prague.

Their conversation focuses on the future of liberal democracies in Central and Eastern Europe. Are the values of the Velvet Revolution still alive today, ten years after Havel’s death? Or is it more accurate to say—as many do—that the region’s democratic transition has failed to fulfill its promise? Are the stresses experienced by the Visegrad countries the same as those undermining democracy in western Europe and the United States?

Jiri Pehe is an affiliated faculty member at New York University’s Center for European and Mediterranean Studies as well as director of NYU Prague. From September 1997 to May 1999 he directed the Political Department under President Havel and later served as the president’s advisor. Previously he was director of Central European research at the Research Institute of RFE/RL in Munich. The author of six books on politics and four novels, Pehe has written extensively on current events in Eastern Europe for American, Czech, and German periodicals and academic journals.

Marilyn Wyatt is a former diplomat who served as cultural affairs officer at the U.S. Embassy in Prague from 1992 to 1994. Since 2000 she has worked as a consultant in governance to civil society sectors around the world and, more recently, as an editor specializing in development and foreign affairs. She lived in Prague from 2005 to 2010 and returns frequently to her beloved adopted city. She is a vice chair of the VHLF board.