Section: Visegrad Insight (Poland)
New Generation Warfare
The West has to understand the way of Russian military thinking in order to be able to respond to the Kremlin’s moves. Russia is unlikely to invade the Baltic states, however, it will be worth it to pay attention to Belarus this year. Although “hybrid warfare” is the most commonly used term for referring to Russian activities in Ukraine,...
The great leap forward?
The Czechs are by far the happiest in the Visegrad region, according to the World Happiness Report 2016 anyway. They sit 27th in the world, which is topped by the usual Scandinavian and Antipodean suspects. Around 20 places lower mope the Slovakians and Poles. Hungarians are found sulking in the 91st position. It may be true that money...
Finding Their Way Out of the Woods
Although the NATO Summit in Warsaw, was nothing similar to the previous one in Newport, it was not a failure at all. On the contrary, the alliance is at its peak (thanks to Vladimir Putin), and the potential existential crisis following our withdrawal from Afghanistan is not even yet on the horizon. In the past two years, political leaders have...
Macron vs Central Europe
After the victory of Emmanuel Macron, congratulations arrived from all over the world. Here is a selection of letters and messages from Central Europe: “Your victory is a happy day for all who believe in a united and strong Europe,” President Andrej Kiska of Slovakia wrote in a telegram. Meanwhile, the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, stressed...
The Hungarian Hostage
The threat by the Hungarian government to close down the Central European University (CEU), founded by Hungarian-born financier George Soros, has mobilized locals and foreigners alike. In an “in depth assessment,” the EU found that a recent education law was not compatible with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and the union is taking legal...
Caught Unaware and Unprepared
In 2013, Russian General Valery Gerasimov – currently the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia and the first Deputy Defense Minister of the Russian Federation – published an article describing Russian military thinking and strategies. Known famously as the “Gerasimov’s Doctrine”, it defined information warfare as the...
Prosperity in the Visegrad Region: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
By any metric, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland have witnessed extraordinary progress since the fall of their communist regimes at the end of the 1980s. Real per-capita income in Poland, for example, has almost tripled since 1991. Life expectancy in the Czech Republic has gone up by seven years, from 71 years in 1990 to 78 years...
Is Europeanization losing its sex appeal?
In late 2008, at the onset of the global economic crisis which put the European Union, and especially its single currency, at the core, a new approach to Europe’s relations with its eastern neighbours was starting to take form. It was in December when the idea of the Eastern Partnership was officially put on paper. The document,...
Enemies of Europe Never Changed
Ahead of the Rome Summit Andrew Moravcsik, professor of Politics and Director of the European Union Program at Princeton tells Visegrad Insight that the future is going to be multi-track. And that Trump will reverse his negative attitude towards EU. Wojciech Przybylski, Visegrad Insight: At the Heinrich-Böll Foundation international conference...
Founding Ideas of Visegrad Remain Crucial
The Visegrad Group was formed in the 1990s to eliminate the remnants of the communist bloc in Central Europe, to overcome the historic animosities between Central European countries, to accomplish a social metamorphosis and to join both the EU and NATO. So, Visegrad was as much about transformation towards Western liberal democracies and...
