This title was first published in 2001. Based on a unique set of structured interviews with parliamentarians and additional interviews with party leaders and activists, this significant volume provides an illuminating account of the formation of the new democracies in Czechoslovakia and later, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Examining efforts to construct stable democratic parliamentary regimes in the wake of communist breakdown, it provides a rigorous analysis of parliaments’ relations with the electorate and the executive, as well as their internal working. Richly detailed and clearly written, this original study is an invaluable addition to the collection of anyone interested in post-communist Europe or parliamentary studies.

Slovak nationalist sentiment has been a constant presence in the history of Czechoslovakia, coming to head in the torrent of nationalism that resulted in the dissolution of the Republic on January 1, 1993. James Felak examines a parallel episode in the 1930s with Slovak nationalists achieved autonomy for Slovakia-but "at the price" of the loss of East Central Europe's only parliamentary democracy and the strengthening of Nazi power. The tensions between Czechs and Slovaks date back to the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918. Slovaks, who differed sharply in political tradition, social and economic development, and culture, and resented being governed by a centralized administration run from the Czech capital of Prague, formed the Slovak People's Party, led by Roman Catholic priest Ankrej Hlinka. Drawing heavily on Czech and Slovak archives, Felak provides a balanced history of the party, offering unprecedented insight into intraparty factionalism and behind-the-scenes maneuvering surrounding SSP's policy decisions.James R. Felak is associate professor of history at the University of Washington.

The essays in the book compare the Czech Republic and Slovakia since the breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1993. The papers deal with the causes of the divorce and discuss the political, economic and social developments in the new countries. This is the only English-language volume that presents the synoptic findings of leading Czech, Slovak, and North American scholars in the field.The authors include two former Prime Ministers of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, eight leading scholars (four Czechs and four Slovaks), and eight knowledgeable commentators from North America. The most significant new insight is that in spite of predictions by various pundits in the Western World that Czechia would flourish after the breakup and Slovakia would languish, the opposite has happened. While the Czech Republic did well in its early years, it is now languishing while Slovakia, which had a rough start, is now doing very well. Anyone interested in the history of the Czech and Slovak Republics over the last twenty years will find gratification in reading this book.

This clear, objective introduction to the politics of Czechoslovakia and the successor Czech and Slovak Republics provides a comprehensive analysis of Czechoslovakia in the postcommunist period. Carol Leff builds a framework for understanding the dynamics of the "triple transition": democratization, marketization, and a national transformation that has reconfigured the dynamic between state and nation. She shows how the interaction of these three transformational agendas has shaped Czechoslovakia's development, ultimately culminating in the paradoxical disintegration of a state that most of its citizens wished to preserve. The book offers a valuable case study of a country coming back to Europe, but it also provides an opportunity for analyzing the influence of communism on what had been a significant interwar European state. The book's strong comparative element will make it invaluable as well for those seeking to understand contemporary Central and Eastern Europe.

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.

Adopting a common research framework, the contributors analyse in detail the role and operations of parliaments in ten of the new democracies.

Previously published as a special issue of the Journal of Legislative Studies, this volume offers a broad comparative assessment of the many faces of parliamentary opposition in different political, legal and cultural settings. Issues of political opposition, and of parliamentary opposition in particular, are at the very heart of the study of democratic processes in different parts of the world. Written by leading scholars in the field, this book looks both at the core features of the parliamentary opposition itself and its role in the legislative and wider political process. This includes an inquiry into the manifold challenges that the parliamentary opposition in many countries has come to face in the more recent past, in particular the rise of different non-parliamentary opposition actors. The countries covered in this volume include the old democracies of the Anglo-Saxon world, continental Europe and Japan, and the new democracies and democratizing regimes in Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and South Africa. Another chapter looks at the manifestations of parliamentary opposition within the multi-level system of the European Union