Michael Breisky (born 29 December 1940 in Lisbon) is a former Austrian diplomat and, as a globalization critic, is the author of numerous publications on Leopold Kohr and his teaching.
The Breisky family belonged to Austrian nobility. Part of the family bore the title of baron, another the title of knight, from whom Michael Breisky also comes. One of his relatives was the politician Walter Breisky, once chancellor of Austria. Michael Breisky grew up as the son of Hubert von Breisky and his wife Hildegard (née Schmidtmann) in Lisbon, where his father was cultural attaché to the German legation from 1940 to 1945.[1] In 1949 he moved to Austria with his mother.
Michael Breisky studied law in Vienna (Dr. iur.) and graduated from the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. In 1967 Breisky became an employee of the Foreign Service of the Austrian Foreign Ministry. His first foreign posts were in Rio de Janeiro, Oslo and Nairobi. In 1982 Breisky advanced to the position of Austrian consul general in Milan, responsible among other things for South Tyrol. Afterwards he worked, among other things, as head of the South Tyrol department in the Austrian Foreign Ministry and, as chairman of the Austrian commission to examine the "package" on the autonomy of South Tyrol, was instrumental in the amicable settlement of the 1992 South Tyrolean conflict.[2]
Michael Breisky was the Austrian ambassador to Ireland from 1993 to 1999. He then became head of the American Department in the State Department and in 2003 Consul General in New [3] In 2005, Breisky ended his diplomatic career.
His occupation and expertise in questions of minority protection, autonomy, regionalism and ethics led Breisky to an intensive examination of the ideas of Leopold Kohr even before his retirement, and to the (co-) establishment of the scientific advisory board of the Leopold Kohr Academy in Salzburg.[4] In 2008, Breisky accepted the invitation to a lecture tour on Leopold Kohr at six Chinese universities.