Martin Bútora Explained

Martin Bútora
Office:	Slovak Ambassador to the United States
Term Start:	1999
Term End:	2003
Birth Date:	7 October 1944
Nationality:	Slovak
Fields:	Sociology
Workplaces:	University of Trnava Charles University

Martin Bútora (born 7 October 1944) is a Slovak sociologist,^[1] writer, university professor and diplomat.

Political career

In November 1989 he was a founding member of the political movement Public Against Violence, the leading movement of the democratic revolution in Slovakia.^[2] He was the human rights advisor to the former president of Czechoslovakia Václav Havel^[3] from 1990 to 1992.^[2]

In 1997 he co-founded the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO) where he served as its first president.

He was the Slovak Ambassador to the United States from 1999 to 2003.^[4]

Bútora placed 6th in the 2004 presidential election, receiving 6.5% of the vote.

Bútora is a member of the advisory board of the Prague European Summit.^[5]

Scholarship

In the first half of the 1990s he taught at the Charles University of Prague and at the Trnava University.

His sociological work focuses on international politics, transatlantic relations, human rights, and minorities.

Key publications

• Abschied von der Tschechoslowakei: Ursachen und Folgen der tschechisch-slowakischen Trennung (Farewell to Czechoslovakia: Causes and Consequences of the Czech-Slovak Separation). Köln : Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik, 1993. (with Rüdiger Kipke and Karel Vodička)
• "Slovakia's Democratic Awakening," Journal of Democracy 10 (1, 1999): 80–95 (with Zora Bútorova)^[6]
• We Saw the Holocaust. Bratislava: Milan Šimečka Foundation, 2005. (eds., with Nadácia Milana Šimečku, et al.)
• Active Citizenship and the Nongovernmental Sector in Slovakia: Trends and Perspectives. Bratislava: Včelí Dom, 2012. (with Zora Bútorova and Boris Strečanský)

Honors and awards

• 1999 – Democracy Service Medal, National Endowment for Democracy, Washington, D.C.
• 2000 – Ján Papánek Medal
• 2000 – Order of Ľudovít Štúr, for his contribution to defense of human rights and development of civil society, awarded by Rudolf Schuster, President of Slovakia.
• 2002 – Celebration of Freedom Award, American Jewish Committee
• 2012 – Czech and Slovak Freedom Lecture, Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington, DC^[7]
• 2019 - VIZE 97 Prize

External links

• Martin Bútora "CV and abstract", Institute for Public Affairs, Bratislava
• "Interviews: Martin Bútora," The Freedom Collection, George W. Bush Institute, Southern Methodist University, University Park, Texas

Notes and References

1. News: Evolution in Europe; Slovaks Pressing Czechs For an Equal Partnership. New York Times. 18 May 1990. 14 February 2010.
2. News: Nicholson. Tom. Slovakia's new Ambassador to Washington: "We have to work like workaholics to catch up" after Mečiar. The Slovak Spectator. 15 February 1999. 14 February 2010.
3. News: Taking Communists to Court: Road Strewn With Nettles, Czechs Say. New York Times. 24 January 1992. 24 January 2010.
4. Web site: Martin Bútora . 14 February 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110720155925/http://www.epd.eu/board-of-directors/martin-butora . 20 July 2011 . mdy-all .
5. Web site: International Programme Board.
6. Slovakia's Democratic Awakening. Journal of Democracy. 1 January 1999. 1086-3214. 80–95. 10. 1. 10.1353/jod.1999.0003. Martin. Bútora. Zora. Bútorová.
7. http://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/twenty-years-independence-reflections-freedom-and-democracy "Twenty Years of Independence: Reflections on Freedom and Democracy," November 16, 2012, Woodrow Wilson Center.