Slovak nationalism and the break-up of Czechoslovakia

Europe - Asia Studies

Volumn 51, Issue 4, 1999, Pages 647-665

  Hilde, Paal Sigurd ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD   (United Kingdom)

^b NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ECONOMIC REFORM; NATIONALISM; POLITICAL CHANGE; POST-COMMUNISM;

CZECH REPUBLIC; SLOVAKIA;

EID: 0032815870     PISSN: 09668136     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09668139998831     Document Type: Article

References (79)

1. The author would like to thank Professor Pål Kolstø at the University of Oslo for his comments on the final draft of this article.
2. Readers with access to the WWW will find a typical reading list for a nationalism course at Jack Snyder's homepage at the University of Columbia. Note the lack of works on the CSFR. See http://www.columbia.edu/cu/polisci/f95/g8844x51.html.
3. Leff, for example, notes the 'tendency of Western journalists to describe the disintegration of the state as a "Slovak secession" '. Carol Skalnik Leff, The Czech and Slovak Republics: Nation Versus State (Boulder, 1997), p. 131.
4. See e.g. Oldřich Dědek (ed.), The Break-Up of Czechoslovakia: An In-Depth Economic Analysis (Aldershot, 1996).
5. See for example Miroslav Krejčí & Pavel Machonin, Czechoslovakia 1918-92: A Laboratory for Social Change (London, 1996).
6. See e.g. Sharon L. Wolchik, 'The Politics of Ethnicity in Post-Communist Czechoslovakia', East European Politics and Society, 8, 1, Winter 1994, pp. 153-188.
7. See for example Eric Stein, Czecho/Slovakia: Ethnic CONFLICT, Constitutional FISSURE, Negotiated BREAKUP (Ann Arbor, 1997).
8. This is the case in both general works such as Leslie Holmes, Post-Communism: An Introduction (Cambridge, 1997) (see p. 288) and specialist studies such Soňa Szomolanyi, 'Was The Dissolution of Czechoslovakia Inevitable?', Scottish Affairs, 1994, 8, Summer, p. 35.
9. This is the case in both general works such as Leslie Holmes, Post-Communism: An Introduction (Cambridge, 1997) (see p. 288) and specialist studies such Soňa Szomolanyi, 'Was The Dissolution of Czechoslovakia Inevitable?', Scottish Affairs, 1994, 8, Summer, p. 35.
10. In the Soviet case, as Professor Pål Kolstø pointed out to me, the Central Asian republics and Belarus were far from eager to see the disintegration of the union.
11. The exception was the 1925 elections. Carol Skalnik Leff, National Conflict in Czechoslovakia (Princeton, 1987), p. 71.
12. Jan Rychlík, 'National Consciousness and the Common State (A Historical-Ethnological Analysis)', in Jiří Musil (ed.), The End of Czechoslovakia (Budapest, 1995), p. 103.
13. Slovakia had a separate National Council and other regional institutions, whereas the Czech Lands had none until 1969. There was also a separate Slovak Communist Party (KSS) within the KSČ, but never a Czech equivalent.
14. Rogers Brubaker, Nationalism Reframed: nationhood and the national question In the New Europe (Cambridge, 1996), p. 18. Italics in original.
15. See Eva Davidová, Cesty Romů (Olomouc, 1995), pp. 219-222.
16. Milan Kučera & Zdeněk Pavlík, 'Czech and Slovak Demography', in Musil (ed.), The End of Czechoslovakia, p. 38.
17. See Jan Jirák & Otakar Šoltys, 'Zobrazení Česko-slovenských vztahů v tisku v období 17.11.1989 až 31.12.1991 - státoprávní uspořádání', in Fedor Gál (ed.), Dnešní krize československých vztahů (Prague, 1992), p. 46.
18. Vladimír Mečiar was Prime Minister in Slovakia from June 1990 to April 1991 and again after the June 1992 elections. From April 1991 to June 1992 the Prime Minister was Ján Čarnogurský.
19. BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, EE/0858 B/10 (hereafter SWB).
20. Jack Snyder & Karen Ballentine, 'Nationalism and the Marketplace of Ideas', International Security, 21, 2, Autumn 1996, pp. 5-40.
21. Center for Social Analysis, Current problems of Slovakia after the split of the ČSFR, March 1993 (Bratislava, 1993), p. 2.
22. The SNS only came out unequivocally in favour of independence in the autumn of 1990. In early 1992 a pro-independence group broke out from the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) parliamentary caucus and formed the short-lived Slovak Christian Democratic Movement (SKDH).
23. Quoted in Marián Leško, Mečiar a mečiarizmus (Bratislava, 1997), p. 82. All translations from Czech and Slovak sources in this article are the author's.
24. See the interview with Milan Kňažko in SWB, EE/1406 B/2. See e.g. also Leff, The Czech and Slovak Republic, p. 131 and Martin Bútora & Zora Bútorová, 'Slovakia After the Split', Journal of Democracy, 4, 2, April 1993, p. 79. For a questioning of Mečiar's personal commitment to the Federation see Karol Wolf, Podruhé a naposled: aneb mírove dělení Československa (Prague, 1998), particularly p. 65. Wolf does not deny that the HZDS in the autumn of 1992 only reluctantly accepted the plan to dissolve the Federation (see pp. 93-94).
25. See the interview with Milan Kňažko in SWB, EE/1406 B/2. See e.g. also Leff, The Czech and Slovak Republic, p. 131 and Martin Bútora & Zora Bútorová, 'Slovakia After the Split', Journal of Democracy, 4, 2, April 1993, p. 79. For a questioning of Mečiar's personal commitment to the Federation see Karol Wolf, Podruhé a naposled: aneb mírove dělení Československa (Prague, 1998), particularly p. 65. Wolf does not deny that the HZDS in the autumn of 1992 only reluctantly accepted the plan to dissolve the Federation (see pp. 93-94).
26. See the interview with Milan Kňažko in SWB, EE/1406 B/2. See e.g. also Leff, The Czech and Slovak Republic, p. 131 and Martin Bútora & Zora Bútorová, 'Slovakia After the Split', Journal of Democracy, 4, 2, April 1993, p. 79. For a questioning of Mečiar's personal commitment to the Federation see Karol Wolf, Podruhé a naposled: aneb mírove dělení Československa (Prague, 1998), particularly p. 65. Wolf does not deny that the HZDS in the autumn of 1992 only reluctantly accepted the plan to dissolve the Federation (see pp. 93-94).
27. See the interview with Milan Kňažko in SWB, EE/1406 B/2. See e.g. also Leff, The Czech and Slovak Republic, p. 131 and Martin Bútora & Zora Bútorová, 'Slovakia After the Split', Journal of Democracy, 4, 2, April 1993, p. 79. For a questioning of Mečiar's personal commitment to the Federation see Karol Wolf, Podruhé a naposled: aneb mírove dělení Československa (Prague, 1998), particularly p. 65. Wolf does not deny that the HZDS in the autumn of 1992 only reluctantly accepted the plan to dissolve the Federation (see pp. 93-94).
28. Centrum pre sociálnu analýzu, Aktuálne problémy Česko-Slovenska, január 1992 (Bratislava, 1992), p. 31. Hereafter Január 1992.
29. Ibid., p. 32.
30. See Jan Obrman, 'Civic Forum Surges to Impressive Victory in Elections', Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Research Report, 22 June 1990, p. 14. Hereafter RFE/RL.
31. Otto Ulč, for example, presents such a view in his article 'Czechoslovakia's Velvet Divorce', East European Quarterly, 30, September 1996. See especially pp. 339-343.
32. Ludvík Vaculík, 'Naše slovenská otázka', reprint from Literárné noviny, 1990, 5, in Nové slovo, 1990, 21, p. 4.
33. Ludvík Vaculík, 'Naše slovenská otázka', reprint from Literárné noviny, 1990, 5, in Nové slovo, 1990, 21, p. 4.
34. Václav Žák, 'The Velvet Divorce - Institutional Foundations', in Musil (ed.), The End of Czechoslovakia, p. 247.
35. Centrum pre výskum spoločenských problémov, Aktuálne problémy Česko-Slovenska, október 1990 (Bratislava, 1990), p. 25. By January 1992 this figure had risen to 71%. Január 1992, data section p. 20.
36. SWB, EE/0903 B/6.
37. Peter Martin, 'The Hyphen Controversy', RFE/RL, 20 April 1990, p. 14. Czecho-Slovakia was the name used in the Paris Peace Treaties. Even the original French version of the Czechoslovak constitution drawn up in Paris in 1919 had the hyphen. In the Czech translation it was left out.
38. Havel, quoted in ibid., p. 15.
39. Koordinačné centrum hnutia Verejnost' proti násilu, Šanca pre Slovensko (Bratislava, 1990), p. 6.
40. See ibid., p. 7 and Krest'anskodemokratického hnutia, Volebný program (Bratislava, 1990), pp. 11-12.
41. See ibid., p. 7 and Krest'anskodemokratického hnutia, Volebný program (Bratislava, 1990), pp. 11-12.
42. For an excellent analysis of the question of the treaty see Stein, Czecho/Slovakia, pp. 105-138. Mečiar was probably the first to suggest such a treaty. Ibid., p. 105.
43. For an excellent analysis of the question of the treaty see Stein, Czecho/Slovakia, pp. 105-138. Mečiar was probably the first to suggest such a treaty. Ibid., p. 105.
44. SWB, EE/0642 B/4.
45. SWB, EE/1229 B/3.
46. Peter Martin, 'Economic Reform and Slovakia', RFE-RL, 5 July 1991, pp. 7-8.
47. Ben Slay (ed.), 'Czechoslovakia: The Economy in Transition', RFE/RL, 20 March 1992, p. 29.
48. Januar 1992, data section p. 28.
49. Ibid., p. 29.
50. For an assessment of the role of the legacy of the Normalisation era see Ladislav Kováč, 'Zločin a trest: husáková normalizácia a osud Československa', Mosty, 1994, 23, p. 3.
51. See Január 1992, pp. 56-73 and Jiří Pehe, 'Opinion Polls on Economic Reform', RFE/RL, 25 January 1991, pp. 4-6.
52. See Január 1992, pp. 56-73 and Jiří Pehe, 'Opinion Polls on Economic Reform', RFE/RL, 25 January 1991, pp. 4-6.
53. SWB, EE/1180 B/3.
54. SWB, EE/1088 B/3.
55. 'Tézy volebného programu HZDS', Národná obroda, 29 April 1992, supplement p. B. Emphasis in original (bold type).
56. SWB, EE/0909 B/2.
57. Žák, 'The Velvet Divorce ...', p. 259.
58. Jiří Pehe, 'Slovak Nationalism Splits Christian Democratic Ranks', RFE/RL, 27 March 1992, p. 14.
59. Január 1992, pp. 84-85.
60. Petr Pithart, 'Křižovatky na cestě od Československa k Česku a Slovensku (listopad 1989 - červen 1992)', in Michal Horský (ed.), Podiel posttotalitných elít na vývoj Česko-Slovenska (Trnava, 1993), p. 14.
61. Quoted in Jan Obrman, 'Further Discussions on the Future of the Federation', RFE/RL, 20 September 1991, p. 9.
62. Žák, 'The Velvet Divorce', p. 251.
63. Ibid.
64. Miroslav Macek, quoted in Wolf, Podruhé a naposled, p. 71.
65. Vaculík, 'Naše slovenska otázka'.
66. Ibid.
67. Pithart, 'Křížovatky ...', p. 13.
68. Sme, 1 January 1998, p. 13.
69. Leff, The Czech and Slovak Republics, p. 137.
70. Leško, Mečiar a mečiarizmus, p. 78.
71. Kalvoda found it beneficial politically to 'appear as a shining knight riding against the ungrateful Slovaks in defence of the federation - and of Czech interests'. Stein, Czech/Slovakia, p. 135.
72. Respekt won the Magazine of the Year award in the American journal World Press Review in 1991.
73. Peter Schutz, 'Slovensko sa prihlásilo k národnému socializmu: Posledné zvonenie pre federáciu', Respekt, 8 June 1992, p. 2.
74. SWB, EE/1406 B/5.
75. SWB, EE/1412 B/5, 20 June 1992.
76. Quoted in Ulč, 'Czechoslovakia's Velvet Divorce', p. 344.
77. Leško, Mečiar a mečiarizmus, p. 85.
78. Wolf, Podruhé a naposled, p. 94.
79. Ibid.