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Contemporary Issues Alumni and Think Tank Experts Assemble in Kyiv

July 2005

On Saturday, June 18, nearly 90 Contemporary Issues (CI) Program alumni from throughout
Eurasia came together in Kyiv for an alumni reunion and conference devoted to "The Role of Modern Think Tanks in the Development of Civil Society." The conference, organized by IREX with support from the US Department of State, also drew a large number of representatives from the US and local governments, as well as think tanks from throughout the United States and Eurasia.

The Honorable John Herbst, US Ambassador to Ukraine, opened the conference by welcoming the alumni to Kyiv. Alexander Vondra, President of the Czech Euro-Atlantic Council and former Deputy Minister for Security Policy and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic provided the keynote address, discussing his experience in both the government and with think tanks.

Following the opening remarks, experts from the United States, Georgia, and Ukraine discussed the role of think tanks in the development of society, stressing examples where work being conducted by a think tank has impacted policy or enacted social change. Three panel discussions followed, devoted specifically to think tanks operating in the following three fields: elections, security, and economics.

Participants were able to take away ideas for their own intiatives and collaborative work. Volodymyr Dubovik, CI2002, from the Center for International Studies at Odessa National University (Ukraine) noted, "Indeed, I discovered a few things that will surely be of use to me as someone who is running a small-sized think tank."

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The Contemporary Issues Program is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, US Department of State.