Institute for Public Affairs organized international workshop titled Nurturing Atlanticists in Central Eastern Europe – a Neglected Territory?  The event took place on December 6, 2007 in Bratislava and was conducted within the project Nurturing Atlanticists in Central Europe: the Role of Media, Education, and Public Diplomacy, generously funded by the German Marshall Fund of the U.S. The participants from Poland, Czech Republic, USA, and Slovakia discussed the topics like public opinion in the sphere of foreign policy, attitudes of political actors, political and public discourse about transatlantic cooperation and the role of public diplomacy in its improving.

As an output of the project IVO is going to publish a working paper containing the workshop’s contributions.

Workshop program:

Nurturing Atlanticists in Central Eastern Europe – a Neglected Territory? (Public Opinion, Political Discourse, Media Debates)
December 6, 2007, Bratislava

Welcome:

Martin BÚTORA, Institute for Public Affairs, Bratislava

Opening remarks:

Ivan GABAL, Gabal, Analysis&Consulting, Prague

Panel 1:  TRENDS IN PUBLIC OPINION

Moderator: Grigorij MESEŽNIKOV, Institute for Public Affairs, Bratislava

Speakers:

Michał WENZEL, Public Opinion Research Center, Warsaw
The End of Anti-Anti-Americanism? Attitudes to the USA in Poland

Olga GYÁRFÁŠOVÁ, Institute for Public Affairs, Bratislava
Cultural Legacies in Public Perception and the Role of Political Leadership

Discussants:

Milan JEŽOVICA, M.E.S.A 10, Bratislava

Ben NOVAK, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava

Panel 2: POLITICAL AND PUBLIC DISCOURSE

Moderator: Ivo SAMSON, RC SFPA, Bratislava

Speakers:

Tomáš WEISS, EUROPEUM, Prague
Political Elite in CEE – Convergences and Cleavages

Anna HOROLETS,  Warsaw School of Social Psychology, Dept. of Political Science
Representation of the United State in Polish Public Discourse

Martin BÚTORA, Institute for Public Affairs, Bratislava
Atlanticists and the Others (Slovakia in the First Decade of the 21^st Century)

Discussant:

Frantisek ŠEBEJ,  .týždeň weekly, Bratislava

Closing address:

Lawrence R. SILVERMAN, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of the United States in Slovakia