Czech Republic

Abstract

The Czech Republic, like Poland and Hungary, has experienced the transition from a communist command economy to a market economy. However, unlike the other two, the Czech Republic experienced a break-up with its former co-republic, Slovakia. The end of Czechoslovakia, marked an end of an era, but it was not accomplished through violence. All three of the countries examined in this study are contrived state constructs brought into existence after the First World War and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This is particularly true of Czechoslovakia which was an attempt to create one state out of the traditional kingdoms of Bohemia and Moravia and the Slovak provinces of Hungary. Considering that its creation was heavily influenced by the West it is not surprising that its re-introduction into the world economy would also be Western dominated. In this chapter we supply a case study of the history and current changes to what was Czechoslovakia and concentrate predominately on the Czech Republic after its 1993 split with Slovakia.