Irreconcilable Differences? Explaining Czechoslovakia's Dissolution

by Kraus, Michael; Stanger, Allison; Carnogursk?, Ján; Havel, Václav; Hoffmann, Stanley; Johnson, Owen V.; Kopeck?, Petr; Kroupa, Daniel; Leff, Carol Skalnik; Macek, Miroslav; Pithart, Petr; Rychlík, Jan; Svejnar, Jan; Turnovec, Franti?ek; Vadas, Martin; Wol

• ISBN13: 9780847690213
• ISBN10: 0847690210
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781461600343
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-06-28
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• More Book Details
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Summary

This unique volume brings together a multi-disciplinary group of scholars as well as Czech and Slovak decisionmakers who were personally involved in the events leading up to the separation of Czechoslovakia.

Author Biography

Jan Carnogusky is chair of the Christian Democratic Party and was prime minister of the Slovak government from 1991 to 1992. Vaclav Havel is the current president of the Czech Republic and was the president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992. Stanley Hoffmann is Buttenwieser University Professor at Harvard University. Owen V. Johnson is professor of journalism at Indiana University. Petr Kopecky is lecturer in the department of politics at the University of Sheffield. Michael Kraus is Federick C. Dirks Professor of Economics and Political Science and chair of political science at Middlebury College. Daniel Kroupa has been a Czech senator since 1998 and was a member of Czech parliament from 1992 to 1996. Carol Skalnik Leff is associate professor of political science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Miroslav Macek is deputy chair of the Civic Democratic Party and was formerly deputy premier of the federal government of Czechoslovakia. Petr Pithart is deputy chair of the Czech Senate and was formerly prime minister of the Czech government from 1990 to 1992. Jan Rychlik is senior research historian at the T. G. Masaryk Institute in Prague and was advisor to Petr Pithart from 1991 to 1992. Allison Stanger is associate professor of political science and director of international politics and economics at Middlebury College. Jan Svejnar is Everett E. Berg Professor of Business Administration and executive director of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan Business School. She is also director of the Economics Institute at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Frantisek Turnovec is professor of economics at Charles University and director of the Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education (CERGE) at Charles University in Prague. Martin Vadas is associate professor at the Academy of Creative Arts and was director of the news division at Czechoslovak Federal Television in 1992. Sharon Wolchik is professor of political science at George Washington University. Peter Sajac is director of the Institute of Slovak Literature at the Slovak Academy of Sciences and was formerly the leader of the Public Against Violence. Milan Zemko is director of the department of internal politics in the office of the president of Slovakia and was formerly a historian at Comenius University.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Vaclav Havel
Acknowledgments	xi
List of Major Parties and Coalitions	xiii
Maps	xv
The Past as Prologue	1	(6)
Michael Kraus
Allison Stanger
Contending Views of Czechoslovakia's Demise	7	(22)
Michael Kraus
Allison Stanger
Part I---The Legacies of the Past
Inevitability, Probability, Possibility: The Legacies of the Czech-Slovak Relationship, 1918--1989, and the Disintegration of the State	29	(20)
Carol Skalnik Leff
The Possibilities for Czech--Slovak Compromise, 1989--1992	49	(20)
Jan Rychlik
Part II---Institutional Challenges and Constitutional Controversies
From ``Velvet Revolution'' to ``Velvet Split'': Consociational Institutions and the Disintegration of Czechoslovakia	69	(18)
Petr Kopecky
The Impact of Institutional Factors on the Breakup of the Czechoslovak Federation	87	(20)
Sharon Wolchik
Electoral Rules and the Fate of Nations: Czechoslovakia's Last Parliamentary Election	107	(30)
Frantisek Turnovec
The Price of Velvet: Constitutional Politics and the Demise of the Czechoslovak Federation	137	(26)
Allison Stanger
Part III---Media, Economic, and International Factors
Failing Democracy: Journalists, the Mass Media, and the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia	163	(20)
Owen V. Johnson
Explaining Czechoslovakia's Dissolution: Assessing Economic Performance before and after the Breakup	183	(16)
Jan Svejnar
The End of Czechoslovakia: International Forces and Factors	199	(22)
Michael Kraus
Part IV---The View from the Ground: Czech and Slovak Perspectives
A Retrospective Look at the Dissolution of Czecho---Slovakia	221	(6)
Jan Carnogursky
The Division/Dissolution of Czechoslovakia: Old Sins and New Forms of Selfishness	227	(8)
Petr Pithart
A Comment on Carnogursky and Pithart	235	(6)
Daniel Kroupa
Fragments from the Dividing of Czechoslovakia	241	(6)
Miroslav Macek
Domestic and International Aspects of the Czechoslovak State's Crisis and End	247	(12)
Milan Zemko
Czechoslovakia after 1989: The Reasons for the Division	259	(10)
Peter Zajac
Notes on the Role of Television in Czechoslovakia's Dissolution	269	(18)
Martin Vadas
Part V---Czechoslovakia's Dissolution in Comparative Perspective
On Ethnic Conflicts and Their Resolution	287	(12)
Stanley Hoffmann
Lessons from the Breakup of Czechoslovakia	299	(8)
Michael Kraus
Allison Stanger
Appendix: Narrative Chronology of the Czech-Slovak Conflict, 1990--1992	307	(26)
Index	333	(12)
About the Contributors	345