It is a great honour to publish a volume of academic essays to celebrate György Schöpflin's contribution to our intellectual wellbeing (using the date of his birthday is simply a pretext). I was still a student and a penniless East European visitor to London when, in the summer of 1981, we met for the first time at one of the cosy streets of Hamstead. Gyuri was accompanied by Mátyás Sárközy whom I knew from Budapest. We started a conversation like old friends about basically everything: the economic crisis in Hungary, the chances of Polish Solidarnosc and the world system theory of Immanuel Wallerstein. This conversation between us has continued ever since. Schöpflin is an intellectual in the broadest sense of the word with the expansive knowledge and curiosity about the world: his intellectual appetite encompasses literature (its hard to name an author he hasn't read) food, politics (both global and local), history, languages, travels and jokes. His wit is accompanied with self-irony - and the readiness to deliberate, argue and contemplate. His endless curiosity brought him to Kőszeg when with Jody Jensen and Elemér Hankiss we began our international summer university program in the mid '90s. He too fell in love with the foothills of the Alpes and supported the community and municipality of the picturesque town after becoming a member of the European Parliament with all possible means. It is no accident that he has served as the president of iASK's international advisory board since the beginning of the Institute's existence. The essays in this volume were written by younger and more senior members of iASK who reflect the continous conversations we have had with Gyuri and they focus on some of the most outstanding contributions of his academic ouvre: European integration, global change and above all: Central Europe. If you not only tolerate but enjoy disagreements you have to be Central European. György (for some George) Schöpflin is a par exellence Central European intellectual with a Hungarian heart. Schöpflin: A Central European Intellectual by Ferenc Miszlivetz Tartalomjegyzék: Schöpflin - A Central European Intellectual, Ferenc Miszlivetz Laudatio An 80-Year-Old Enigma. A Salute to George, Katalin Bogyay M i t t e l e u r o p a Central Europe within the European Union, Iván Bába The Changing Faces of the Past - A Current Hungarian Perspective, Attila Pók Two Life Stories from Central Europe: The Ornithologist and the Writer, Mónika Mátay and Henrietta Trádler Works of Hate. The Central European Misreading of Kierkegaard in Three Ages, András Nagy Urban Heritage in Hungary. Historic Cities and Their Rehabilitation in Hungary in the Second Half of the 20th and the First Decades of the 21st Century, Tamás Fejérdy Relations between Russia and the Visegrad Countries after Three Decades, Lyubov Shishelina Singapore, an Example for Central Europe?, Anikó Magasházi E u r o p e The Future of Europe - Private or Public?, Erhard Busek On European Complexities, Jody Jensen Under the Spell of Wanted and Unexpected Changes - 1989-2019. Thirty Years After: Re-enchanting Europe?, Ferenc Miszlivetz European Origins of Turkish Nationalism, Ahmet O. Evin Nationalism and Conservatism: An Unexpected Liaison?, Ferenc Hörcher European Integration as New National Mythology: On the Resolution of the Macedonian Name Dispute, Dimitar Nikolovski U n c e r t a i n t y a n d G l o b a l C h a n g e Governing Europe and its Nations, Sean Cleary One More Decade of Uncertainty: Changing Perceptions of 1989. A Personal Account, János J. Bogárdi Re-evaluation of Values, György Csepeli Paradigm Shift in Constitutionalism, István Stumpf Multipolarity and Multilateralism: Cooperative or Rival Cornerstones of a New World Order?, Peter W. Schulze From a Hungarian Corner to a World Stage. Miklos Doman and His 1942 Book: The Coming Age of World Control, László Z. Karvalics