Just a few hours before the opening the polling stations in the Czech Republic, the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO) in cooperation with the Slovak-Czech Society in Prague organized the premiere of the book Where Are We? Mental Maps of Slovakia. Other publications of the Institute, including the most recent Global Report on Slovakia 2009, were also introduced. The presentation took place on May 27, 2010 at the Literary Café on Řetězová street in Prague.  The participants to the meeting included the senator and Chairman of the TOP 09 political party– Mr. Karol Schwarzenberg, the vice-chairman of the Senate of the Czech Republic – Mr. Peter Pithart, the ex-deputy of the European Parliament – Mr. Milan Horáček, as well as representatives of the social and academic arenas in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia. The authors of the book Where Are We? Mental Maps of Slovakia, Martin Bútora, Zora Bútorová, Miroslav Kollár and Grigorij Mesežnikov presented both the IVO publications and the analytical activity of the IVO, which were later evaluated by Mr. Erik Tabery, the editor-in-chief of the Czech magazine Respekt. The discussion was moderated by Mr. Boris Kršňák.

The IVO’s analysts focused on the current political situation in Slovakia and on the recent trends in the development of the quality of democracy. They discussed the political party system, the public opinion on current sociopolitical issues and the functioning of the free and independent media. The IVO’s senior analysts’ opening remarks, as well as Mr. Erik Tabery’s talk, paved the way for a lively discussion on sociopolitical topics.  Senator Schwarzenberg criticized the ruling Slovak and Hungarian politicians for using the ethnic card to distract the public from solving crucial social problems. The vice-president of the Senate of the Czech Republic, Mr. Pithart highlighted the IVO’s contributions to the independent intellectual discourse about the state of the society. The president of the Institute of History at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Mr. Slavomír Michálek emphasized the need for a closer cooperation between the social scientists of the Central European states. Mr. Radovan Čaplovič, deputy of the Slovak-Czech Society talked about the recent tensions in the Slovak-Hungarian relations. More experts, university graduates and journalists (from Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Le Monde and the Aktualne.sk informational website) joined the discussion in the aftermath of the official program. 

The event in Prague was part of a series of twenty talks organized by the IVO at the occasion of the 20th anniversary of free elections in Czechoslovakia. Other presentations took place in Bratislava, Košice, Piešťany, Komárno, Rimavská Sobota, Tisovec, Banská Bystrica, Banská Štiavnica, Trenčín, Dubnica nad Váhom, Nitra, Nové Zámky, Dunajská Streda, Praha, Levoča, and Žilina.