Suchergebnisse

The Prague Spring of 1968 was among the most important episodes in post-war European politics. In this book Kieran Williams analyses the attempt at reform socialism under Alexander Dubcek using materials and sources which have become available in the wake of the 1989 revolution. Drawing on declassified documents from party archives, the author readdresses important questions surrounding the Prague Spring: Why did liberalization occur? What was it intended to achieve? Why did the Soviet Union intervene with force? What was the political outcome of the invasion? What part did the reformers play in ending the experiment in reform socialism? What was the role of the security police under Dubcek? The book will provide new information for specialists as well as introductory analysis and narrative for students of East European politics and history and Soviet foreign policy.--Publisher description

The writings of Václav Havel are haunted by the character of the seemingly powerless man who nevertheless shares responsibility for the perpetuation of an unjust system. He is the incarnation of what Havel in The Power of the Powerless called the "instrument of a mutual totality, the auto-totality of society" that does much of the policing work of the post-totalitarian state. The greengrocer of that essay's third section was not the only such embodiment; he had contemporaries in the characters of the famous Vaněk plays. But the cast is not limited to them either; we can find examples of this phenomenon in some of Havel's earliest essays, and in some of his less known later plays that explore the social dynamics that underpin and undermine political systems.

This essay discusses five recently published volumes dealing with the Prague Spring of 1968 and the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia. These volumes mark the first extensive involvement by Russian scholars and archivists in historical assessments of the Soviet-Czechoslovak crisis. Reams of declassified documents and analytical essays in four of the volumes illuminate the events of 1968 and add details and nuances, but they do not alter the basic interpretations developed by Western scholars in earlier decades. The fifth volume, put out by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), says more about the mentality of the Putin-era MVD than about the events of 1968.

This essay discusses five recently published volumes dealing with the Prague Spring of 1968 and the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia. These volumes mark the first extensive involvement by Russian scholars and archivists in historical assessments of the Soviet-Czechoslovak crisis. Reams of declassified documents and analytical essays in four of the volumes illuminate the events of 1968 and add details and nuances, but they do not alter the basic interpretations developed by Western scholars in earlier decades. The fifth volume, put out by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), says more about the mentality of the Putin-era MVD than about the events of 1968. Adapted from the source document.