APPLY NOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE FRIENDS OF SLOVAKIA FIRST INTERNATIONAL STUDENT SUMMIT ON THE “CHALLENGES OF DEMOCRACY”
 
Greetings, students! Ahoj, študenti!
Friends of Slovakia (FOS)*, a nonprofit volunteer organization based in Washington, D.C., is sponsoring a series of “student summits” on the very timely issue of Challenges of Democracy. These summits will be led and moderated by professors from universities in Slovakia and the United States. Our first student summit took place, virtually, in April 2021, with a second one taking place on October 23, 2021. A third one will follow in spring 2022.
 
Why Challenges of Democracy?
Democracy today faces unprecedented challenges, both in established democracies and in countries with developing oryoung democracies. These challenges include misinformation and disinformation, political extremism and the threat ofviolence, unstable political institutions, growing economic inequality and citizen apathy and distrust, not to mention thesevere economic and social disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Participants in the FOS International Student Summits will discuss and debate these and related issues as they consider ways to restore, strengthen, and improve democracy in their respective countries.
 
Why student summits?
In the fall of 2019, Friends of Slovakia began to explore convening a Slovak-American student summit in Washington,D.C. that would bring together university students from Slovakia and the United States for a week of seminars anddiscussions on selected public policy topics related to the theme, Challenges of Democracy, and with a goal of 1)promoting increased understanding and engagement between students in Slovakia and the USA 2) enhancing knowledge and interest in global issues, and 3) building international friendships. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, FOS decided instead to organize a series of virtual student summits starting in the spring of 2021.
 
Eligibility, summit format, and time commitment

• Graduate students and upper-level undergraduates from Matej Bel University and Wayne State University, with an interest in international affairs and policy and a desire to engage with students from another country on topics of mutual interest
• Students need to commit to participating in two student summits, from fall 2021 through spring 2022, and will receive a Certificate of Participation from Friends of Slovakia.
• Each student summit will last about two hours, including a break. The topics chosen will be policy related and interdisciplinary in nature. Students will be asked to read and reflect on brief readings that will be distributed prior to each session. Students likely will meet in a preparatory session prior to the summit.

 
Consider participating! For more information contact Dr. Jozef Michal Mintal at jozef.mintal@umb.sk
 
 
*Friends of Slovakia (FOS) is a Washington-based nonprofit organization founded in 2001. Its mission is to strengthen friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation between the United States and Slovakia as nations sharing similar values of freedom, democracy, and a market economy. Since its founding, FOS has worked to promote cooperation in the political, economic, cultural, and academic fields and to improve mutual understanding. https://friendsofslovakia.org/