The Otto von Habsburg Foundation and the Institute for Strategic Studies of the University of Public Service cordially invite you to a joint conference entitled
“Conservative Minds”
The Legacy of Otto von Habsburg and Other Conservative Thinkers
from a Transatlantic Perspective
Date: November 18, 2022 (Friday), 9:00 am
Venue: University of Public Service, Széchenyi Ceremonial Hall (1083 Budapest, Ludovika tér 2.)
Conservatism has long been viewed through different lenses in Europe and America. As political thinkers and public intellectuals in the two continents had very diverging experiences and encountered distinctly different problems, they developed varying approaches to fundamental values such as freedom and equality, as well as to topics like democracy, the state, capitalism, national security, global governance, and international law. Despite significant differences, policy perspectives have often followed similar paths, and challenges have been identical at different levels in both Europe and the US. Given these resemblances, transregional intellectual connections across the Atlantic have always been essential, as they yielded fresh impulses to conservative political thought and policies on both sides. While European political theorists significantly contributed to the remarkable emergence of post-WWII American conservatism and provided vital ideological components to policy-making in the context of the Cold War, the transatlantic intellectual exchange was by no means a one-way avenue, as European authors and politicians have eagerly turned their gaze to refreshing ideas and practices coming from overseas. Besides well-known émigrés like Leo Strauss, Eric Vogelin, or the Hungarian-born scholars Thomas Molnar and John Lukacs, who became a source of inspiration for American conservative circles, Otto von Habsburg’s visions and ideas also made their way into post-war American political thought and practice. At the same time, influences from the US have been instrumental in shaping and nuancing the visions and philosophy of the last Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary. Against this background, the aim of the conference is to get a sense of these transregional intellectual entanglements and mutual influencing and thereby to explain how European notions and incentives travelling across the Atlantic fertilised political thinking and practices in the US and vice versa, how American ideas (re-)shaped the contours of conservative policies and positions in the Old Continent. From a more general perspective, the conference also attempts to show how conservative values and principles shaped political action in the transatlantic political space in the 20th century and how the legacies of the conservative intellectual movement and political agenda of the past epoch might help us to tackle current challenges and strengthen the alliance across the ocean.
Programme
9:00-9:30 Registration
9:30 – 9:50 Opening remarks
Gergely Prőhle, Director, Otto von Habsburg Foundation; Institute for Strategic Studies
Balázs Mártonffy, Head of the Institute for American Studies, University of Public Service
9:50 – 10:30 Panel I: The Varieties of Conservative Thought. The Relevance of the European-American Intellectual and Cultural Entanglements
János Csák, Minister of Culture and Innovation (Hungary), Former Ambassador, Honorary Professor
“The American Genius.” Cultural Interaction between the Intellectual Heritage of the American Conservative Movement and Europe
Jeffrey O. Nelson, Executive Director & CEO, Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal
Russell Kirk’s Europe and the American Conservative Renaissance
Chair: Balázs M. Mezei, Professor, Institute of International, Political and Regional Studies / Department of Political Science, Corvinus University of Budapest
10:30 – 10:45 Discussion
10:45 – 11:00 Coffee Break
11:00 – 12:30 Panel II: European Impacts on Shaping US Foreign Policies
Andrew Bremberg, President, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, Former U.S. Ambassador to UN, Geneva
Transatlantic Relations in Light of the War in the Ukraine
Tamás Magyarics, Former Ambassador, Professor of US History and Foreign Policy
How Europe Fits Into the Global Strategy of the United States?
Géza Jeszenszky, Former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Former Ambassador, Professor of History
The Atlantic Alliance as Seen From Central Europe
Réka Szemerkényi, Former State Secretary, Former Ambassador, Expert in Transatlantic Cooperation
The Return of Geopolitics. The Case of Energy in the Wake of the Ukraine Crisis
Chair: Márton Ugrósdy, Deputy State Secretary, Office of the Prime Minister’s Political Director
12:30 – 12:45 Discussion
12:45 – 13:15 Special Address
Edwin J. Feulner, Founding President, The Heritage Foundation
The Continuing Legacy of Otto von Habsburg
Chair: Cecilia Kirk Nelson, Publications Manager, Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal
13:15 Lunch
The conference will be held in Hungarian and English; simultaneous translation will be provided.
Please register for our event by completing the form below:
