Adrian Anthony Basora (born July 18, 1938) is an American

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or interna ...

, and former

United States Ambassador to the Czech Republic The diplomatic post of United States ambassador to the Czech Republic was created after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia and the United States recognizing the new nation of the Czech Republic on January 1, 1993. In June 1992, the Slovak parli ...

. He is a senior fellow at the

Foreign Policy Research Institute The Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) is an American think tank based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that conducts research on geopolitics, international relations, and international security in the various regions of the world as well as ...

researching democratization in the post-Communist states of Europe and Central Asia, and a member of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is a nonprofit organization that is independent and nonpartisan. CFR is based in New York Ci ...

. Basora graduated with an AB from

Fordham University Fordham University () is a private Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its original campus is located, Fordham is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit un ...

in 1960 and a

CEP ''Boletus edulis'' (English: cep, penny bun, porcino or porcini) is a basidiomycete fungus, and the type species of the genus ''Boletus''. Widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere across Europe, Asia, and North America, it does not occu ...

at the Institut d'études politiques in 1962, and later earned an MPA at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

Diplomatic career

Basora was a career diplomat in the

United States Foreign Service The United States Foreign Service is the primary personnel system used by the diplomatic service of the United States federal government, under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of over 13,000 professionals carry ...

. He spent his early career doing political and economic work in

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

and

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to t ...

, and press and cultural work in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. He served as Deputy Treasury Representative and then U.S. Commercial Attaché to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

1976–1980, where he engaged the French on various financial and economic issues, and counseled and advocated for U.S. firms. He was appointed Director of Development Finance in 1980, where he represented the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other na ...

in various multilateral financial institutions. He returned to Paris in 1983 as U.S. Political Counselor. In 1986 he was appointed Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid. While in that role he served as Deputy Negotiator in U.S.-Spanish base agreement talks addressing post- Franco frictions. In 1989, Basora joined the

White House staff The Executive Office of the President (EOP) comprises the offices and agencies that support the work of the president at the center of the executive branch of the United States federal government. The EOP consists of several offices and agenc ...

as Director for European Affairs on the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a n ...

, participating in reshaping U.S. policy after the fall of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the gover ...

. He organized a high-level presidential mission to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

to highlight U.S. support for

post-Communist Post-communism is the period of political and economic transformation or transition in former communist states located in Eastern Europe and parts of Africa and Asia in which new governments aimed to create free market-oriented capitalist economi ...

governments in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...

and helped design and launch U.S. and multilateral assistance programs to fund rapid economic transformation of former Soviet Bloc states.

Ambassadorship

After a brief stint as a research associate at the Center for the Study of Foreign Affairs at the

Foreign Service Institute The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is the United States federal government's primary training institution for employees of the U.S. foreign affairs community, preparing American diplomats as well as other professionals to advance U.S. foreign ...

, he was selected as U.S. Ambassador to

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

on May 1, 1992, by President George H. W. Bush. He was formally appointed on June 15 of that year and presented his credentials on July 20. In the meantime, on June 1, the "Velvet Divorce" (

dissolution of Czechoslovakia The dissolution of Czechoslovakia ( cs, Rozdělení Československa, sk, Rozdelenie Česko-Slovenska) took effect on December 31, 1992, and was the self-determined split of the federal republic of Czechoslovakia into the independent countries ...

) had been announced, to take effect January 1, 1993, after which he continued as chief of mission in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

and Ambassador to the Czech Republic. Basora oversaw implementation of a $65 million U.S. assistance program to facilitate the opening of Czech civil society as well as

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

and other market reforms. The Czech Republic became the first post-Communist European country to "graduate" from U.S. assistance, which he attributes to this "jump start". Basora also advocated for U.S. firms investing in the country, including the first American acquisition of a

TV station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the eart ...

in the region. He left the post on July 15, 1995.

Later career

From June 1996 to August 2004 he served as president of the Eisenhower Fellowships, a

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

-based organization that supports networking between potential leaders in the United States and those in other countries. He continues to serve as past president and a trustee, and as a trustee of the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), which conducts academic and leadership exchanges between the U.S. and certain post-Communist countries. He led the Project on Democratic Transitions of the

as its director from its launch in January 2005. The Project was a two-year assessment of the economic, political, and social changes in Central and Eastern Europe since the fall of communism, to see if lessons learned could improve reforms in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

and other countries. In 2006, he published an article identifying 19 of the 28 former communist countries as "successful" transitions with a number of similarities He has since written more pessimistically about the progress of democratization in the former Soviet bloc, however, and urged stronger U.S. interest In 2008 he wrote: "Long before the Russians entered Georgia, democracy was clearly on the retreat in postcommunist Europe and Eurasia, as was the leverage of both the United States and the democratic European powers." Basora is on the international advisory board of the Auschwitz Institute and an independent director of the Quaker Investment Trust.

Personal life

A resident of New Hampshire, he is married to Pauline Barnes, a writer, and has one daughter. He is fluent in French and Spanish and has basic knowledge of Czech, Romanian and Italian.

References

External links