Martin Bútora


Martin Bútora is a Slovak sociologist, writer, university professor and diplomat.

Political career

In November 1989 he was a founding member of the political movement Public Against Violence, the leading movement of the democratic revolution in Slovakia. He was the human rights advisor to the former president of Czechoslovakia Václav Havel from 1990 to 1992.
In 1997 he co-founded the Institute for Public Affairs where he served as its first president.
He was the Slovak Ambassador to the United States from 1999 to 2003.
Bútora placed 6th in the 2004 presidential election, receiving 6.5% of the vote.
Bútora is a member of the advisory board of the Prague European Summit.

Scholarship

In the first half of the 1990s he taught at the Charles University of Prague and at the Trnava University.
His sociological work focuses on international politics, transatlantic relations, human rights, and minorities.

Key publications