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Pilsen will become the center of European political science. From Thursday, September 24, to Friday, September 25, it will host the prestigious international conference CEPSA 2026. The milestone 30th edition of the gathering will focus on evaluating three decades of progress in freedom and democracy in Central and Eastern Europe, their historical legacies, and contemporary democratic challenges. Dozens of leading scholars and academics from across Europe will arrive in the West Bohemian metropolis for the two-day event.

The conference, titled 30 Years of CEPSA – 30 Shades of Freedom in Central and Eastern Europe: Historical Legacies, Democratic Challenges, and the Politics of Freedom, will open on Thursday at 9:30 AM in the lecture hall of the West Bohemian Museum in Pilsen. Welcome remarks on behalf of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen will be delivered by Tereza Šlehoferová, Dean of the Faculty of Arts. The keynote lecture by Petr Kopecký from Leiden University in the Netherlands will address the mechanisms of autocratization, political patronage, and the resilience of democratic institutions in Central Europe.

Over the course of the two days, participants can look forward to more than twenty expert panels hosted across university buildings in the center of Pilsen, the premises of the Education and Research Library of the Pilsen Region, and the Museum of West Bohemia. Discussions will cover topics such as democratic backsliding, populism, academic freedom, media freedom, and the role of social networks in public discourse. Attention will also be given to security challenges, foreign policy in the context of the war in Ukraine, and the impact of the 2025 Czech parliamentary elections on the transformation of the party system. The EUPeace University Alliance will host a roundtable on local democracy and civil society participation.

Participants of the international gathering will also enjoy a side program featuring a Thursday social evening and a guided tour of Pilsen's historic center. Details regarding the schedule and speakers are available on the conference website. Lectures will be held in English. No registration is required, and admission is free of charge.

The conference is organized by the Central European Political Science Association (CEPSA) in cooperation with the Department of Political Science and International Relations of the Faculty of Arts at UWB and the Czech Political Science Association.