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

Political career

In November 1989 he was a founding member of the political movement

Public Against Violence Public Against Violence (, VPN) was a political movement established in Bratislava, Slovakia in November 1989. It was the Slovak counterpart of the Czech Civic Forum. Velvet Revolution Public Against Violence (VPN) was founded during the Velvet ...

, the leading movement of the democratic revolution in Slovakia. He was the human rights advisor to the former president of

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and dissident. Havel served as the last List of presidents of Czechoslovakia, president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, prior to the dissol ...

from 1990 to 1992. 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. 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.

Scholarship

In the first half of the 1990s he taught at the

Charles University of Prague Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...

and at the

Trnava Trnava (, , ; , also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of the Trnava Region and the Trnava District. It is the seat o ...

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 The ''Journal of Democracy'' is a quarterly academic journal established in 1990 and an official publication of the National Endowment for Democracy's International Forum for Democratic Studies. It covers the study of democracy, democratic regi ...

'' 10 (1, 1999): 80–95 (with Zora Bútorova) * ''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 The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization in the United States founded in 1983 with the stated aim of advancing democracy worldwide and counter communism, communist influence abroad, by prom ...

, Washington, D.C. * 2000 – Ján Papánek Medal * 2000 –

Order of Ľudovít Štúr The Order of Ľudovít Štúr () is the third highest Slovak state decoration (after the Order of the White Double Cross and the Orders, decorations, and medals of Slovakia#Andrej Hlinka Order, Order of Andrej Hlinka) conferred by the President ...

, for his contribution to defense of human rights and development of civil society, awarded by

Rudolf Schuster Rudolf Schuster (born 4 January 1934) is a Slovak politician, who served as the second president of Slovakia from 1999 to 2004. He was elected on 29 May 1999 and inaugurated on 15 June. In the presidential elections of April 2004, in which he so ...

President of Slovakia The president of the Slovak Republic () serves as the head of state of Slovakia and commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The people directly elect the president for five years, for a maximum of two consecutive terms. The presidency is essent ...

. * 2002 – Celebration of Freedom Award,

American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a civil rights group and Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the wi ...

* 2012 – Czech and Slovak Freedom Lecture,

Woodrow Wilson Center The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS) or Wilson Center is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank dedicated to research and policy discussions on global issues. Established by an act of Congress in 1968, it serves as both ...

, Washington, DC"Twenty Years of Independence: Reflections on Freedom and Democracy," November 16, 2012, Woodrow Wilson Center.
Accessed: 12 November 2012. * 2019 -

VIZE 97 Prize The VIZE 97 Prize (also The Vision 97 Award; in Czech language, Czech: ''Cena Nadace Dagmar a Václava Havlových VIZE 97'') is an international prize awarded to significant thinkers by the ''Dagmar Havlová, Dagmar and Václav Havel Foundation VIZE ...

References

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 Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

University Park, Texas University Park is a city in Dallas County, Texas, United States, in suburban Dallas. The population was 25,278 at the 2020 census. The city is home to Southern Methodist University. University Park is bordered on the north, east and west by Dal ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butora, Martin 1944 births Living people Diplomats from Bratislava Public Against Violence politicians Slovak sociologists Academic staff of the University of Trnava Ambassadors of Slovakia to the United States Academic staff of Charles University Candidates for President of Slovakia