What can the debates on Scottish independence learn from Slovakia?

Director of the Institute for Security and Defence Studies in the Slovak Republic and leading expert on Slovak independence, Dr Ivo Samson, will present a lecture assessing the implications of the Czecho-Slovak "velvet divorce" on Scottish independence. The lecture, entitled ' Lessons Learned by a New Independent State in Central and Eastern Europe: Problems, Challenges and International Position: Analogies to Scotland' is the final lecture in the acclaimed 'Security and an Independent Scotland' series, hosted by the University of Glasgow's Global Security Network (16. Senate Room, Main Building, University of Glasgow). Dr Samson will present some striking analogies between Scotland and Slovakia, alongside the notable differences between the partition of Czechoslovakia and the possible "divorce" between Scotland and the UK. He will also examine some of the specific features of Slovakia's independence before, during and after the division of Czechoslovakia including the technical problems and details with special focus on security aspects. Dr Philips O'Brien, Director of the University of Glasgow's Global Security Network, said: "We are very pleased to welcome Dr Samson to the University of Glasgow to address this very interesting question. Recognizing that the cases of Scotland and Slovakia are not identical, a lot of analogies do still exist and can help us better understand the possible implications of independence and a Tartan Divorce between Scotland and the rest of the UK." Twenty years ago Czechoslovakia broke up through a mutual consensus from two of its federal parts, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.