Jiří Pehe
Jiří Pehe, once Chief Political Advisor to former Czech President Václav Havel, is a political analyst and Director of New York University in Prague.
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2011-12-18
| Vaclav Havel was one of the last of a now-extinct breed of politicians who could lead effectively in extraordinary times, because their first commitment was to common decency and the common good, not to holding power. If the world is to make it through its various crises successfully, Havel's legacy must remain alive.... read |
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2005-11-10
| A specter is haunting the European Union’s new members in Central Europe – the specter of populist nationalism. The Law and Justice Party (PiS) has just won Poland’s parliamentary and presidential elections, while populist and nationalist political forces could gain the upper hand in elections in Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia next year.... read |
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2005-06-19
| The fiasco of the European Union’s summit in Brussels has brought into sharp relief differences in attitudes between most new member countries from East Central Europe and the “old” members. Perhaps surprisingly for many, such differences were not played out according to the expected script, in which the new members would be ruthlessly pragmatic, and demanding as much EU money as they could get, while most Western countries would in the end tone down their national egoism in favor of the decades-old ideals of European integration. ... read |
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2004-09-22
| The government of Poland collapsed first, followed by the Czech government. Then the Hungarian prime minister resigned. The government of Slovakia lost its majority and is unstable. Within months, if not weeks, of realizing the long-sought goal of European Union membership, a wave of political instability surged through Central Europe. ... read |
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2004-04-30
| Seen from the point of view of the European Union's longtime member states, the eight postcommunist countries that - together with Cyprus and Malta - joined the EU on May 1st seem united in their positions on most important issues. Indeed, since the US intervention in Iraq, many West Europeans see the EU's new members from Europe's East as something of a bloc. ... read |
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2004-01-21
| Extreme-right and post-fascist parties, whose rising popularity caused alarm across Western Europe a few years ago, seem to be fading from the electoral scene. But does this mean that political radicalism, extreme-right sentiments, and fascism in Europe are dying out? ... read |
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2003-08-25
| When communism in Eastern Europe collapsed, the region's new democratic leaders agreed that joining the European Union--fast--must be their priority. ``Back to Europe!'' became the slogan, one enthusiastically backed by a majority of their populations. Yet eight months before that dream formally comes true, doubts in Eastern Europe about the benefits of EU membership are mounting. What has gone wrong? ... read |
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2003-02-19
| At the end of the EU summit in Brussels on Monday--a meeting held to bridge the growing schism over the Union's policy on Iraq--French President Jacques Chirac committed a diplomatic blunder that rivaled US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's snide remarks about "old and new Europe." Chirac chided EU candidate countries for behaving irresponsibly when they expressed support for America's effort to disarm Iraq with the use of force if need be. ... read |
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2003-01-30
| The life of Vaclav Havel, who is stepping down as president of the Czech Republic, could serve as inspiration for one of Havel's own absurdist plays. Born in 1936 into one of the wealthiest Czech families, Havel was one of the people persecuted because of their "wrong class origins" after the Communist takeover of 1948. ... read |
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Central Europe's Fractious Right
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Jiří Pehe 
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Is Eastern Europe's political pendulum about to run down? Across Central Europe since 1989, elections have oscillated between right and left. Is Hungary's slick young prime minister, Viktor Orban, poised to end all that? ... read
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2005-11-10
| A specter is haunting the European Union’s new members in Central Europe – the specter of populist nationalism. The Law and Justice Party (PiS) has just won Poland’s parliamentary and presidential elections, while populist and nationalist political forces could gain the upper hand in elections in Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia next year.... read |
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2004-01-21
| Extreme-right and post-fascist parties, whose rising popularity caused alarm across Western Europe a few years ago, seem to be fading from the electoral scene. But does this mean that political radicalism, extreme-right sentiments, and fascism in Europe are dying out? ... read |
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2003-01-30
| The life of Vaclav Havel, who is stepping down as president of the Czech Republic, could serve as inspiration for one of Havel's own absurdist plays. Born in 1936 into one of the wealthiest Czech families, Havel was one of the people persecuted because of their "wrong class origins" after the Communist takeover of 1948. ... read |
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2004-09-22
| The government of Poland collapsed first, followed by the Czech government. Then the Hungarian prime minister resigned. The government of Slovakia lost its majority and is unstable. Within months, if not weeks, of realizing the long-sought goal of European Union membership, a wave of political instability surged through Central Europe. ... read |
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2004-04-30
| Seen from the point of view of the European Union's longtime member states, the eight postcommunist countries that - together with Cyprus and Malta - joined the EU on May 1st seem united in their positions on most important issues. Indeed, since the US intervention in Iraq, many West Europeans see the EU's new members from Europe's East as something of a bloc. ... read |
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2005-06-19
| The fiasco of the European Union’s summit in Brussels has brought into sharp relief differences in attitudes between most new member countries from East Central Europe and the “old” members. Perhaps surprisingly for many, such differences were not played out according to the expected script, in which the new members would be ruthlessly pragmatic, and demanding as much EU money as they could get, while most Western countries would in the end tone down their national egoism in favor of the decades-old ideals of European integration. ... read |
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2002-01-21
| Is Eastern Europe's political pendulum about to run down? Across Central Europe since 1989, elections have oscillated between right and left. Is Hungary's slick young prime minister, Viktor Orban, poised to end all that? ... read |
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2003-02-19
| At the end of the EU summit in Brussels on Monday--a meeting held to bridge the growing schism over the Union's policy on Iraq--French President Jacques Chirac committed a diplomatic blunder that rivaled US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's snide remarks about "old and new Europe." Chirac chided EU candidate countries for behaving irresponsibly when they expressed support for America's effort to disarm Iraq with the use of force if need be. ... read |
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2001-01-10
| PRAGUE: Rebellion by Czech TV journalists against a new director of the publicly-owned Czech TV marks the climax of a ten year battle between two concepts of democracy. The first concept is represented by former prime Minister Vaclav Klaus, the second by President Vaclav Havel. ... read |
