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Towsley Foundation Lecture Series - The Czech Republic in the Beginning of the 21st Century

Wednesday, February 13, 2008
12:00 AM
Annenberg Auditorium, 1120 Weill Hall, 735 South State St.

This lecture will be given by H.E. Martin Palous, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the United Nations. Reception to follow. Free and open to the public. Co-sponsored by the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and Center for Russian and East European Studies.
Born in Prague, Mr. Palous received a Doctor of Natural Sciences in chemistry from Charles University in Prague and went on to study law, philosophy and social sciences. Mr. Palous was Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States for 5 years and is now the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the United Nations. In October 1998, he became Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. Mr. Palous was also active in various non-governmental organizations and served as chairman of the Czech Helsinki Committee until 1998. Ambassador Palous was a faculty member and the faculty's vice-dean in the Department of Social Sciences at Charles University; he joined Ivan Havel at the Centre for Theoretical Studies in 1993. He served the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Czechoslovakia as adviser to Minister Dienstbier and was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from October 1990 to October 1992. A founding member of the Civic Forum, he was elected to the Federal Assembly in 1990 and became a member of its Foreign Affairs Committee. Mr. Palous was one of the first signatories of Charter 77 and served as spokesman for this dissident human rights group in 1986. He has lectured extensively in the United States and has authored several publications. Ambassador Palous translates the works of Hannah Arendt.