On 1 February 2012, the University of Defence hosted a workshop for, primarily, the General Staff Course participants regarding the lessons learnt from the Czech defence transformation process. Besides, some of the university academic staff participated too. Lecturers for the workshop were the ex-ministers of defence of the Czech Republic Luboš Dobrovský and Vladimír Vetchý, and docent Zdeněk Kříž from Masaryk University.

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As a renowned expert, Mr. Kříž provided the audience with the academic point of view of the armed forces transformation process in the opening speech. The speeches delivered by both the ex-ministers built on the aforementioned theoretical basis offered an overview of their periods in the office heading national defence and their priorities and processes that influenced Czech defence and military development.

The latter speeches encompassed also speakers’ interesting opinions on today defence policy processes and on armed forces development in the future, rather than limited to memories, igniting thus a critical discussion. The debaters were far from being formal, a fact probably best characterised by a lack of allocated time for which the organisers heard critics from some of the participants.

Despite of the shortage both the course participants and University of Defence staff assessed the workshop beneficial. It helped to understand some links in the transformation process that had not been clear from the retrospective or contemporary point of view and may support the recognition of the current challenges facing defence.​​

​Text: Richard Stojar, photo: Zdeňka Dubová​​​​​​​