Table of Contents

Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction
M. Mark Stolarik

Part I: The Dissolution of Czechoslovakia
Chapter 1: The “Velvet Split” of Czechoslovakia (1989–1992)
Jan Rychlík
Chapter 2: Czechoslovakia’s Dissolution Twenty Years After
Michael Kraus
Chapter 3: The Dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The Slovak Perspective
Jozef Žatkuliak and Adam Hudek
Chapter 4: The Dissolution of Czechoslovakia: The Slovak Perspective
Stanislav J. Kirschbaum
Chapter 5: The Slovak Republic After Twenty Years
Jozef Moravčík
Chapter 6: The Czech Republic After Twenty Years: Gains and Losses
Petr Pithart

Part II: Political Developments After 1993
Chapter 7: Of People, Mice and Gorillas: Slovak Politics Twenty Years After
Juraj Hocman
Chapter 8: Thinking Big About a Small Country: On Juraj Hocman’s “Of People, Mice and Gorillas”
Kevin Deegan-Krause
Chapter 9: Letting Czechoslovakia Go: Czech Political Developments Since 1993
Adéla Gjuričová
Chapter 10: Czech Political Developments Since 1993: Some Comments
Carol Skalnik Leff

Part III: Economic Developments After 1993
Chapter 11: Economic Developments in Slovakia Since 1993
Ľudovít Hallon, Miroslav Londák, and Adam Hudek
Chapter 12: To Neoliberalism and Back? Twenty Years of Economic Policy in Slovakia
John A. Gould
Chapter 13: Economic Developments in the Czech Republic, 1993–2013
Martin Pospíšil
Chapter 14: The Czech Economic Transition: From Leader to Laggard
Sharon Fisher

Part IV: Social Developments After 1993
Chapter 15: Reflections on Social Developments in Slovakia, 1993–2013
Martin Bútora and Zora Bútorová
Chapter 16: Social Developments in Slovakia after Twenty Years: The Impact of Politics
Sharon L. Wolchik
Chapter 17: Social Developments in the Czech Republic Since 1993
Oldřich Tůma
Chapter 18: Some Comments on “Social Developments in the Czech Republic”
James W. Peterson

Contributors
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

M. Mark Stolarik is Professor of History and holds the Chair in Slovak History and Culture at the University of Ottawa.

Reviews

"Growing out of a conference held at the University of Ottawa in 2013, M. Mark Stolarik’s edited volume brings together the work of scholars from North America and the Czech and Slovak Republics. The conference and subsequent publication had two main goals: to reevaluate the “Velvet Divorce,” the peaceful agreement that led to Czechoslovakia’s split, and to compare the post-divorce trajectories of the two independent states. Stolarik’s comprehensive introduction names the “debate over issues of individual agency and deeper political structures” as the most striking theme of the volume. The authors analyze the split’s main causes and question its inevitability by exploring the emergence of nationalism and national identity, cultural and economic factors, political elites, and public opinion. The chapters represent a wide array of disciplinary approaches, including history, economics, political science, sociology, and law. In addition, two politicians contributed their plenary addresses from the Ottawa conference: Josef Moravčík, a Slovak lawyer, professor, and 1989 activist, and Petr Pithart, a Czech dissident, Charter ’77 signatory, and Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 1990 to 1992 while Czechoslovakia was still a federal state. Graduate students and scholars of the region will find much of this collection useful. Each chapter includes extensive references, and there is a thorough bibliography at the end. Some of the most important North American and European scholars have weighed in on the many significant topics facing the Czech and Slovak Republics today."
*Slavic Review*