6. Social and political background of the Czech society – “velvet revolution” and “velvet divorce”

Lecturer: Pavel Pšeja


Objective: To explain trends leading towards the change of the regime and consequent dissolution of
Czechoslovakia.


Lecture: Analysis of reason leading to so-called “velvet revolution” will be presented in the first
part of the lecture. The attention will be paid not only to internal influences, but also to the
quality of international environment as a background of the regime change in Czechoslovakia. In the
second part diferences between Czech and Slovak part of the state will be discussed with a special
emphasis on the role of economy and nationalism in the process of gradual break-up of
Czechoslovakia.


Assigned reading:

Kraus, Michael, Stanger, Allison (eds.), Irreconcilable Differences? Explaining Czechoslovakia’s
Dissolution, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham 2000, pp. 7-25.


Additional reading:

Mansfeldova, Zdenka (2006): “The Czech Republic: critical democrats and the persistence of
democratic values”, in Klingemann, Hans-Dieter, Fuchs, Dieter, Zielonka, Jan (eds.), Democracy and
Political Culture in Eastern Europe, Routledge, Abingdon, pp. 101-118.


Večerník, Jiří; Matějů, Petr, eds. Ten Years of Rebuilding Capitalism: Czech Society after 1989.
Praha: Academia, 1999.


Issues for discussion:

The role played by the Czech and Slovak political parties at the “velvet divorce”.

The role played by the Czech and Slovak mass media at the “velvet divorce”.