October 2005, Volume 16, Issue 4
The Emperor Has No Clothes
What can be done with regimes that proclaim their devotion to democratic principles but violate them in practice?
Václav Havel
Václav Havel, a playwright and one of Europe’s most prominent moral and intellectual figures, was a leading dissident during the period of communist rule. He was elected as the first president of postcommunist Czechoslovakia, and later served as president of the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003. From April to June of 2005, he occupied the Kluge Chair for Modern Culture at the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
April 2004, Volume 15, Issue 2
Exchange: The Czech Past and the Cuban Future
In an exchange of letters, leading Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya discusses with Vaclav Havel the lessons that the Czechoslovak experience offers to Cubans seeking a democratic transition in thier own country.
January 1996, Volume 7, Issue 1
Civil Society After Communism: Rival Visions*
April 1995, Volume 6, Issue 2