The purpose and objective of the conference entitled "The Prague Spring 50 Years After: Great Crises of Communist Régimes in Central Europe in a Transnational Perspective" is to reflect on the importance and legacy of 1968, but also on the importance and legacy of other major crises within the Soviet Bloc (1953, 1956, 1980/1), using transnational and long-term perspectives viewing the relation between the past and the present from many different angles and in a truly broad international and domestic context. Renowned researchers, including representatives of the ENRS assemblies, from a dozen or so countries have pledged to attend the event.

The topics of the conference will include major social movements of 1968, both in the East and in the West, and international ramifications of the crises and Soviet interventions in the "allied countries". The conference will examine the relevance for and, where applicable, the second life of concepts and ideas of 1968 and other years of the crisis in the actual transformation after 1989. Attention will also be paid to forms and significance of contemporary memory of those turning-point events, the role of mass media, etc.