Rule of Law Program
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Faces Of Totalitarianism: Yesterday And Today
March 10-13, 2005
Cejkovice Castle, South Moravia, Czech Republic

One of the major tasks for friends of freedom is to uncover and make known the full truth about the history of totalitarian regimes.  The younger generation in particular can easily miss the profound significance of events which took place even a few years before their birth.  Consequently, this course examined the phenomenon of totalitarianism and its various aspects both in existing regimes and in the recent past.

A historical perspective was given by Dr. Miroslav Novak of the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University, who spoke on the phenomenon of political parties in democratic and totalitarian regimes.  Likewise, Michaela Freiova, analysed the change in structure of Czech Communism from the 1950’s to the 1970’s.  Stanislav Balik examined the present reality of Asian totalitarian regimes found in North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Turkmenistan and their pseudo-religious character.

The current situation in the Czech Republic was reviewed by Ladislav Mrklas of the Czech Liberal-Conservative Academy (CEVRO) and by Dr. Miroslav Mares of Masaryk University, who spoke about both right and left-wing extremism in Czech Republic.  They identified residues of communist ideology and totalitarian tendencies in the contemporary Czech political scene.