Martin Bútora

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Martin Bútora (born October 7, 1944) is a Slovak sociologist, writer, university professor and diplomat (former Slovak Ambassador to the U.S. from 1999 to 2003).

A sociologist and writer, he was born in 1944 in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. In November 1989 he was one of the founders of the political movement Public Against Violence, the leading movement of the democratic revolution in Slovakia. From 1990 to 1992 he was the human rights advisor to the former president of Czechoslovakia Václav Havel. In the first half of the nineties he taught at the Charles University of Prague and at the Trnava University. In 1997 he co-founded the Institute for Public Affairs where he served as its first president. His analytical work focuses on international politics, transatlantic relations, human rights, and minorities.

In 1999 National Endowment for Democracy based in Washington D.C. awarded him with the Democracy Service Medal. In 2000 he received the Ján Papánek medal and in 2002 a Celebration of Freedom Award by the American Jewish Committee. In the same year, he received the Ľudovít Štúr Order for his contribution to defense of human rights and development of civil society from the hands of the President of Slovakia.

Bútora ended 6th in the 2004 presidential election, gaining 6.5% of total vote.