Stability of monetary unions: Lessons from the break-up of Czechoslovakia

In 1993, Czechoslovakia experienced a two-step break-up. On January 1, the country disintegrated as a political union, while preserving an economic and monetary union. Then, the Czech-Slovak monetary union collapsed on February 8. This paper analyzes the economic background of the two break-ups from the perspective of the optimum currency area literature. The main finding is that the Czech and Slovak economies were vulnerable to asymmetric economic shocks, such as those induced by the economic transition. In particular, the stability of Czechoslovakia was undermined by low correlation of permanent output shocks, low labor mobility and higher concentration of heavy and military industries in Slovakia. --Optimum currency areas,Disintegration,Czechoslovakia

Disintegration and Trade

The gravity model of trade is utilized to assess the impact of disintegration on trade. The analysis is based on three recent disintegration episodes involving the former Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. The results point to a very strong home bias around the time of disintegration, with intra-union trade exceeding normal trade approximately 43 times in the former Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, and 24 times in the former Yugoslavia. Disintegration was followed by a sharp fall in trade intensity. Nevertheless, there is a considerable hysteresis in economic relations, with trade flows among the former constituent Republics still between two and 30 times greater than normal trade in 1998.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39737/3/wp353.pd

French responses to the Prague Spring: connections, (mis)perception and appropriation

Looking at the vast literature on the events of 1968 in various European countries, it is striking that the histories of '1968' of the Western and Eastern halves of the continent are largely still written separately.1 Nevertheless, despite the very different political and socio-economic contexts, the protest movements on both sides of the Iron Curtain shared a number of characteristics. The 1968 events in Czechoslovakia and Western Europe were, reduced to the basics, investigations into the possibility of marrying social justice with liberty, and thus reflected a tension within European Marxism. This essay provides an analysis specifically of the responses by the French left—the Communist Party, the student movements and the gauchistes—to the Prague Spring, characterised by misunderstandings and strategic appropriation. The Prague Spring was seen by both the reformist and the radical left in France as a moderate movement. This limited interpretation of the Prague Spring as a liberal democratic project continues to inform our memory of it

Socialist film co-productions. The case of the Polish-Czechoslovak film co-production What Will My Wife Say to This? (1958) by Jaroslav Mach

This article offers an analysis of the Polish-Czechoslovak co-production What Will My Wife Say to This? (Co řekne žena, 1958, directed by Jaroslav Mach) as seen from the perspective of production-related and cultural factors. It provides a methodological background useful for the study of co-productions made in communist countries and presents the general circumstances of Polish-Czechoslovak co-operation in 1948–1958. The analysis of the film – the first Polish-Czechoslovak post-war co-production – shows the process of production as a field of conflicting goals and interests.This book was financially supported by the National Programme for the Development of Humanities: project “Cinema: Intercultural Perspective. Western-European Cinema in Poland, Polish Cinema in Western Europe. Mutual Perception of Film Cultures (1918–1939)”

Disintegration and Trade

The gravity model of trade is utilized to assess the impact of disintegration on trade. The analysis is based on three recent disintegration episodes involving the former Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. The results point to a very strong home bias around the time of disintegration, with intra-union trade exceeding normal trade approximately 43 times in the former Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, and 24 times in the former Yugoslavia. Disintegration was followed by a sharp fall in trade intensity. Nevertheless, there is a considerable hysteresis in economic relations, with trade flows among the former constituent Republics still between two and 30 times greater than normal trade in 1998.Gravity model, international trade, disintigration

Post-Communist City on its Way from Grey to Colourful: The Case Study from Slovakia

The paper is a case study of the city of Banska Bystrica in Slovakia in the light of political, socio-economic and cultural changes. It discusses urban diversity and integrity from an anthropological qualitative perspective. On the example of three different historical periods (1918 – 1948: the democratic Czechoslovakia; 1948 – 1989: the communist Czechoslovakia; 1989 up to the present: building new democracy in a new state) the study shows transformations of the city and urban life. The research results show how political systems influence conditions, in which urban diversity and heterogeneity develop. The study demonstrates that diversity can grow and flourish only in democracy, which allows differences and pluralism leading to richer and diversified urban life.Urban diversity, post-communist city, democracy, Slovakia

OCTOBER 28, 1918 AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING THE ORIGIN OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA IN HISTORY TEXTBOOKS OF THE CZECHS’ NEIGHBOURS

October 28, 1918 represents one of the most important milestones of the Czech collective memory. Th e aim of the study is to capture the main traits of the explanatory refl ection of the events related to the formation of the fi rst Czechoslovak Republic in history textbooks of the selected neighbouring countries (Poland, Slovakia, Austria, and Hungary as a “historical neighbour”) and to compare them with the Czech approach, as well as mutually with each other focusing on the characteristics of educational texts which are typical for historical narration in each of the given countries. We focused in particular on the secondary school textbooks and a specifi c interpretation of the concrete themes which are accentuated in the national explanatory texts, on the one hand, or suppressed, on the other. Th e content analysis shows that there is an apparent eff ort for an objective approach, however, we can fi nd there also stereotypical views which the authors of textbooks oft en repeatedly adopt or derive from the same specialized publications. Th e objectivity of their elaboration could be achieved by the elimination of inaccuracies, the simplifying characteristics leaving aside some essential facets of the problem and by overcoming a one-sided view focused only on one situation or event and neglecting other essential historical information