BIGIS Papers 3. 1995 [antikvár]

Introduction The historic changes that took place at the end of the eighties and the beginning of the nineties made their effects felt not only in Central and Eastern Europe but throughout the international system. With the end to a world system based on bipolarity and confrontation between East and West new problems and tensions have arisen or gained strength, posing a serious challenge to politicians and academics, governments and international organizations alike. Predictability has given place to uncertainty, unreliability, unpredictability. For the moment a number of problems are proving intractable. This volume contains the materials presented at an international conference held at the Budapest University of Economic Sciences on September 25, 1993, as part of the celebrations marking the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the Department of International Relations. About 30 foreign experts took part in the event, including the heads of many schools of diplomacy and foreign affairs around the world, ambassadors, professors and researchers. The heads of a number of partner institutions in Central and Eastern Europe were also present: on this occasion the Association of Central and East European Schools of International Studies was formed. The Hungarian participants were principally members of the Department of International Relations, and besides them lectures were given by diplomats, politicians and researchers who had graduated in international relations. The audience numbered over a hundred. This anniversary was a good opportunity for the Department of International Relations to sum up the experience accumulated in three decades of teaching and research. Among the countries of the Eastern bloc Hungary was the first to set up a school of foreing affairs and diplomacy, which together with the IMO in Moscow formed the local base for the training of Hungarian diplomats and foreign affairs experts. In those three decades about 800 students have graduated in international relations. Sadly, one person missing from this celebration was academician Gyula Juhász, the internationally famous historian and founding member of the department, who until his death in the summer of 1993 was one of the best-known and most popular teachers in the department, loved and respected by colleagues and students alike. The outstanding activity of Gyula Juhász created a school and played a decisive role in winning recognition for the department as a centre for research. We dedicate this volume to his memory, remembering him by the inclusion of one of his last lectures, given at the founding session of the Hungarian Foreign Affairs Society. The studies published in this volume, most of them expanded versions of the presentations heard at the conference, are varied. The feature they share is that they deal with questions of international relations, the international system, and Central and Eastern Europe in the changed international conditions of the turn of the last decade. BIGIS Közlemények - BIGIS Papers 3. 5