| 1979-1984 | Geography at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the Charles´ University, Prague |
| | activities in democratic opposition, left the faculty and worked several years as the administrator of the Asian collection of Náprstek museum in the castle in Libchov |
| 1982-1986 | Manager of the underground rock band Národní tYída, the members of which were young musicians, artists and writers; |
| | published a samizdat magazine Revolver revue together with Jáchym Topol and Ivan Lamper |
| | since mid 1980s Contacts with dissidents in Hungary, Poland and Lithuania |
| 1987 | Became a member of Polish-Czechoslovak Solidarity and participated in meetings of representatives of Czechoslovak and Polish opposition in mountains on state borders and co-organized regular smuggling of literature, correspondence and technolology across border mountains. |
| 1989 | Speaker of the Charta 77 and one of the authors of the petition, several sentences; |
| | jailed for his activities in the prisons of Ruzyn and Pankrác |
| One of the founders of the Civic Forum, a political movement which lead the country to the first free elections |
| | Informa
ní servis was established which later became Respekt weekly |
| 1990-1992 | Foreign and political advisor to the President Václav Havel |
| 1990 | Initiated the meeting of intellectuals and top representatives of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland in Bratislava which later lead to the establishment of Visegrád co-operation |
| 1992-1997 | First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs |
| | He lead the Czech team which divided Czechoslovak foreign service, he was the Czech negotiator during talks with Germany concerning joint declaration and started discussions concerning the accession of the R to the NATO. |
| 1997-2001 | Czech Ambassador to the United States |
| 2001-2002 | Plenipotentiary of the Czech Government for the preparation of the Summit meeting of NATO in Prague |
| 2003 | Left diplomacy on his own decision |
| 2004 | Expert assistant of the German Marshall Fund of the U.S in Prague |
| 2004-2006 | Acting officer and consultant of international firm Dutko Worldwide, reads lectures on Euro-American relations at the New York University (NYU) in Prague, President of the Czech Euroatlantic Council |
| | He also became one of the founders of a foreign-political think-tank PASS (Program of Atlantic Security Studies in Prague) and participated in the establishment of the discussion club Osma. |
| | In Ústí nad Labem he helped to establish Collegium Bohemicum, the institution which will help the City museum to study history and present of Czech-German relations. |
| 2006 | Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic in the first government of Mr Mirek Topolanek |
| 2007-2009 | Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs in the second government of Mr Mirek Topolanek |
| since 2009 | Senator, Parliament of the Czech Republic, Prague |
