The End of Czechoslovakia

Scholars and practitioners from both sides of the divide, Czech and Slovak, as well as international experts, take an in-depth look at the causes of Czechoslovakia's break-up, and explain why a seemingly successful country should disintegrate so quickly after the collapse of the communist regime. Besides exploring the political processes leading to the split, the authors analyse the underlying social, economic and cultural differences between the two nations and examine the historical roots of the problems. Particular attention is paid to changing Czech and Slovak attitudes towards the common state and towards each other, from the heyday of the First Republic to the disillusionment of the post-1989 period.

Jirí Musil is Professor of Sociology at the Central European University in Budapest and Warsaw and at Charles University in Prague. He was the first Academic Director of the Prague College of CEU. He is a member of the “Academia Europea” and “Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea” and a founding member of the Czech Learned Society. His main professional fields are urban and regional sociology and sociology of culture.