The first symposium named "1989 – 2011: Transitions to Democracy" took place on March 11th to 12th, 2011 in National Czech and Slovak Museum & Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA. The conference brought together a number of leading experts on the post-communist transition  in the Czech and Slovak Republics – like Prof. Carol Skalnik Leff of University of Illinois; Kevin Deegan Krause of Wayne State University; James Krapfl of McGill University; Kieran Williams of Drake University; and Mr. Adrian Bassora, the former U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic. Martin Bútora held a speech on the events of November 1989 and the milestones of further developments in Slovakia, while in the evening, together with Mr. Peter Burian, the Slovak Ambassador to Washington, presented the developments of the Slovak foreign policy. Zora Bútorová gave a presentation on the development of women’s position since 1989.

On March 15th, 2011 Martin Bútora and Zora Bútorová participated in the symposium Making Democracy Work: Slovakia in the Last Decade organized by Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies of the University of Michigan. Ronald Weiser, former Ambassador of the US to Slovakia, presented the U.S. insight into the development of Slovak-U.S. relationship. The Slovak perspective were brought in by the three consecutive Slovak Ambassadors – Mr. Martin Bútora (1999 – 2003), Mr. Rastislav Káčer (2003 – 2008), and Mr. Peter Burian (2008-). Zora Bútorová introduced the evolution of citizens’ attitudes towards the key challenges of the past 20 years


Martin Bútora discusses development of the Slovak foreign policy. The former Ambassador, Mr. Rastislav Káčer, and the present Ambassador, Mr. Peter Burian, on the right.


Zora Bútorová gave a presentation on citizens’ attitudes towards the key challenges of the transformation.


The Spiritus Agens of the Symposium was the former U.S. Ambassador, Mr. Ronald Weiser (on the left), who was talking about the challenges and the pitfalls of his diplomatic mission in Slovakia (2001 – 2004).