Academic conference “Poland and Czech political thought towards Russia” was held on the 12th of May in the International Cultural Centre in Cracow. 

The conference was dedicated to the Polish and Czech relations towards Russia in the past and presence. During three discussion panels connected with the history and political science (19th and 20th centuries) panelists presented they key issues concerning Russia in Polish and Czech political thought. Minister Petr Drulák told in the inaugural speech about the role of Russia, the implications of Pan-Slavism and about a different way of perceiving Russia by Polish and Czech people in the context of the Polish-Czech cooperation. A big part of the discussion was dedicated to a potential of the Polish-Czech cooperation in the future.

“Poland and Czech political thought towards Russia”
Cracow, the 12th of May, 2015

 PROGRAMME

9:00 
Opening session

• Dr Henryka Mościcka-Dendys – Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland
• Prof. Petr Drulák – Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic

9:30-11:00 
I  panel: Russia and forming contemporary nations and the political thought - Polish and Czech.

• Dr Roman Baron – The Institute of History, The Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague
• Dr Petr Janyška – Head of the Czech Centre in Warsaw.
• Dr habil. Jarosław Kilias – The Institute of Sociology, The University of Warsaw
• Marzena Krajewska – The First Counsellor of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, the Secretary of the Polish-Czech Forum's Programme Council
• Prof. Andrzej Nowak – the Institute of History, The Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw; Jagiellonian University

Moderated by: Prof. Jacek Baluch, a former Ambassador of the Republic of Poland in Prague, v-ce President of the Polish-Czech Forum's Programme Council

11:15-12:45
II  panel: Russia and Polish-Czech cooperation in the 20th century: ideas and reality

• Associate Professor Jiří Friedl – The Institute of History, The Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno
• Prof. Marek Kornat – The Institute of History, The Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw
• Prof. Jan Rychlik – the Institute of Czech History, The Charles University in Prague
• Prof. Stanisław Żerko, Dr habil. – The Western Institute in Poznan

Moderated by: Dr Sławomir Dębski, Director of The Centre for Polish-Russian Dialogue and Understanding

13:30-15:00    

III  panel: Polish-Czech cooperation: historical context and the contemporary challenges 

• Dr Adam Eberhardt – Deputy Director of the The Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW) in Warsaw
• Dr Michal Kořan – Deputy Director of the Institute of International Relations in Prague
• Jiří Schneider, Prague Security Studies Institute – former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic
• Eugeniusz Smolar – the Centre for International Relations in Warsaw

Moderated by: Dr Mateusz Gniazdowski – President of the Polish-Czech Forum's Programme Council, Head of the Central Europe Department of The Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW)