Ethnic minority issues played an important role in the history of Czechoslovakia, from 1918, during World War II and in the years immediately following it. Czechoslovakia became a model for solving ethnic and minority problems and legal regulations had always played a key role in the status of minorities. This book, which deals with issues concerning ethnic and language minorities in Czechoslovakia from a long-term perspective, is primarily intended for foreign readers. In recent years, ethnic minority issues are once again becoming relevant in Europe and thorough knowledge of earlier problems and solutions may facilitate further examination of the current problems.

First published in 1943, this volume aims to trace the development of several of the more acute problems of Czechoslovak life and history in a country which has been highly sensitive to the disturbances which have shaken the rest of Europe and which has never been far from the tumult and the clash of arms. Only through historical analysis and quiet explanation of the facts can we fairly judge, in the light of past event, the ultimate value of a free Czechoslovakia to a free Europe.

Czechoslovak domestic politics, including the long-standing policy dilemmas stemming from the so-called Slovak question, are usually approached from a historical standpoint. Here Carol Leff views the subject from a fresh analytic perspective. The Slovaks' dissatisfaction with their status in the constitutional order has dogged Czechoslovakia from the country's inception after World War I, and the substantial Slovak minority (now about one-third of the population) has recurrently complicated the state's struggle for self-definition, stability, and even survival. Professor Leff establishes a systematic analytic framework for the discussion of the Czech-Slovak relationship and how it has affected and been affected by state power and the political system. Czechoslovakia's history is virtually a museum for the major European political alternatives of the twentieth century, and this book is an experiment in applying the comparative methodology of political science not to cross-national studies but to the analysis of a single country over time. The author organizes consideration of policy making on the Slovak national question around three component elements and their impact on effective problem solving: the institutional structure of the pre-Munich republic and the postwar socialist state, leadership values and premises relevant to the disposition of the national question, and patterns of Czech and Slovak leadership interaction. Originally published in 1988. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The legal system of the present-day Czech Republic would not be understood properly without sufficient knowledge of its historical roots and evolution. This book deals with the development of Czech law from its initial origins as a form of Slavic law to its current position, reflecting the influence of the legal systems of neighbouring countries and that of Roman law. The reader can see how a legal system originally based on custom developed into written and codified law. Czech law was fully dependent upon developments within the Luxemburg, Jagiellonian and, primarily, Habsburg monarchies, although some features remained autonomous. The 20th century is particularly important in the development of the Czech state and law of today, namely due to the establishment of an independent Czechoslovakia in 1918 and its split in 1992 giving rise to the independent identities of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. It was a century encompassing periods of democratic as well as totalitarian regimes; political, ideological, economic and social changes stemming from such transformations were projected into, and reflected in, the system of Czechoslovak and Czech law. It can therefore serve as a “case study” for researchers interested in the transition of democratic legal systems into totalitarian regimes, and vice versa.

Following World War 1 a unique experiment in state-building took place between two closely kindred nations in Eastern Europe; an attempt to build up a composite ethnic - Czechoslovak-nation and provide it with an adequate political framework. This book gives the reader a succinct account of this experiment by means of ethnopolitical, economic and sociological analyses. The book is divided into three parts. The first, written by Jaroslav Krejci, on ethnopolitics explains the rationale of the experiment and reviews its obstacles, successes and failures, due to both internal and external causes. The second part, by the same author, contains an outline of the economic context of ethnic as well as social aspects of the development. As far as possible, the economic structure and performance of the Czech and Slovak parts of the state are given separate attention. The third part, by Pavel Machonin, is entitled `Social Metamorphoses' and covers structural changes in the Czech and Slovak societies. Changes in class structures, stratification, mobility and living standards constitute the main items for consideration. Wherever there is relevant material available, popular opinion on particular issues and electoral results are scrutinized.