How the Old Regime Ends and the New One Begins; What to Avoid and What to Support

This nine-month project took place in 2006, and was financed by the city of Brno and by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs under its Transition Promotion Program. The aim of the project was to support democracy and the construction of a civil society in Ukraine, and to communicate experiences from the Czech transition period.

The project had three parts.

Specialist internship for Ukrainian activists in Brno

In autumn 2006, CDK offered one-month internships in specialised subjects to four Ukrainian applicants:

• internship in the academic field: Tatyana Viktorivna Brezhneva, an expert assistant at the International Military Security Systems Analysis Institute, National Institute for Strategic Studies in Dnipropetrovsk
• internship in the municipality official field: Vladimir Kucharyavy, the deputy head of the department of international relations on the Kharkiv city council
• internship in the non-governmental organisations field: Igor Georgiovich Markov, a fellow at the Geneza political studies centre
• internship in the legal and judiciary field: Oleksandr Novak, the head of the legal department of the Kharkiv city council

The interns were involved in working at particular civic, academic, or municipal organisations and institutions: CDK, the Centre for Strategic Studies, the International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University, the City of Brno, etc. They prepared studies that were completed after their return to Ukraine. The interns also visited several institutions in Prague and Brno, including the Czech Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the Public Defender of Rights, the Offices of the South Moravian Region, the Centre for Politics and Economy, CEVRO, the Program of Atlantic Security Studies, and Jagello 2000.

The main aims of the internships were to establish valuable contacts, to gain experience in democratic institutions, and to exchange valuable information. The participants also signed an agreement to establish a centre for the support of Ukrainian membership in NATO.

Publication

CDK published a book called "Democratic Transition - Czech Experience" (in Russian). The publication is a collection of fourteen articles by prominent Czech authors from political sciences and other fields connected to democratic transition. It was distributed to selected institutions and individuals in Ukraine:

• humanist and technical universities in Kharkiv, Poltava, and Dnipropetrovsk
• city councils and municipalities in Zmijiv, Komsomolsk, and Sumy
• state and university libraries in the above-mentioned cities
• non-governmental organisations and civic associations whose staff participated in the one-week seminar in Kharkiv

The publication sold out. It was reviewed by partners and project participants as a unique contribution to the discussion of democratic transition.

Lectures in Kharkiv

In close connection with the publication of the book, a conference was held in Kharkiv between 27th November and 2nd December. The conference was led by six prominent lecturers (political scientists and CDK members) from Brno and comprised fourteen seminars, which were attended by young specialists and opinion makers from Eastern Ukraine. Out of a large number of applicants (ninety-eight), CDK chose fifty participants from various cities, including Kharkiv, Sumy, Donetsk, Poltava, and Komsomolsk.

All of the participants who met the requirements received a certificate issued by Masaryk University stating that they had completed a lifelong learning programme accredited by the Czech Ministry of Education.

The event in Kharkiv attracted the attention of the local media. The daily journal Sloboga published two long articles on 27th November and 1st December 2006. Deutsche Welle broadcast a special programme.