Debriefing from the International Conference on Leadership & Politics & Governance in Turbulent Times

On 14 and 15 March 2024, an international conference entitled “Leadership & Politics & Governance in Turbulent Times: Global and Geopolitical Challenges in a Changing Europe” was successfully held, organised by the Department of Regional Studies of the Faculty of Economics, Prague University of Economics and Business, in cooperation with other foreign universities. The conference was a thematic continuation of a series of conferences already held in May 2023 in Newcastle (Northumbria University, UK) and in October 2023 in Angers (ESSCA School of Management, France).

This year’s conference in Prague was attended by nearly 50 participants over the two days of the conference, 40 in person and 10 online.

The conference featured presentations by leading experts in the field of Leadership studies, such as Prof. Markku Sotarauta (Tampere University, Finland), Prof. Joyce Liddle and Prof. John Shutt (Northumbria University), Prof. Ignazio Cabras (ESSCA School of Management), and others. Among the Czech lecturers we can mention e.g. Assoc. Prof. Tomáš Hudeček (former Mayor of Prague) and Assoc. Prof. Marian Piecha (Ministry of Industry and Trade).

The main topics discussed were related to the factors and current trends that have fundamentally influenced and continue to influence the leadership of actors operating at European, national, regional and local levels. Fundamental were issues related to the influence of the current EU philosophical approach to shaping economic policy based on green growth and strategically on a low-carbon or zero-emission economy in the 2050 horizon. This political-economic context was and is further influenced by the impact of pandemic measures on the situation in individual states, regions and municipalities, as well as geopolitical trends related to the migration crisis (especially since 2015) and the impact of the war in Ukraine in a broader dimension, i.e. the energy crisis. The individual papers presented were focused, reflecting these trends from different perspectives in terms of the role, importance and possibilities of leadership.

The conference organisers, Prof. Martin Pělucha and Ing. Martina Kubíková, in cooperation with foreign partner universities, will prepare the proceedings of the conference in the spring months of 2024, which, in addition to the abstracts of individual presentations, will include a broader assessment of the main findings and conclusions of the conference. The proceedings will be published by Acta Oeconomica Pragensia.

Acknowledgements

The conference was partly supported by Zentiva, a pharmaceutical company based in Prague, which is now a major European company employing more than 4,500 people in several European countries. Among other things, Zentiva played an important role in coordinating health care activities in the Czech Republic during the pandemic. We would like to thank the following companies for their financial support.