Formulating a Foreign Policy for the West: a Conservative View
May 17-18, 2004 
Civic Institute Prague, Czech Republic

The Civic Institute was honored to welcome a number of actual or former politicians and diplomats to share their experiences and insights at this international conference.  Senator Jan Ruml, Deputy President of the Czech Senate, delivered the opening address.  Konrad Szymanski, Member of European Parliament from Poland and Editor in Chief of the International Review of Politics, also addressed the audience.  Vladimir Palko, Minister of Interior of Slovakia, was a featured speaker.  Other speakers included the former Czech ambassadors Alexandr Vondra, (to the United States) and Jirí Schneider (to Israel).

Contributions were made from professors and think-tank scholars as well.  Notably, two professors from Boston University, Andrew Bacevich and Igor Lukeš, gave speeches.  Likewise, the lecture by the well known British philosopher and conservative thinker, Roger Scruton, was well received.  Other participants from Italy and Germany helped make this conference a truly representative sampling of western positions in the effort to define a common foreign policy from a conservative perspective.