China in a Postcommunist World

2021 ◽  
pp. 260-270
Author(s):  
George W. Breslauer
Keyword(s):  
Prague Spring

Many theories of modernization would predict that one-party rule, strict controls against organized or dramatized dissent, and a marketized and privatized economy—as exist in China—are incompatible. This chapter offers a skeptical view of claims that either revolution from below (à la Hungary and Poland) or democratization from above (à la the Prague Spring or Gorbachev) are likely in coming decades in China. More likely is the combination of cooptation and repression that has taken place thus far.

Tanks in the Spa Town. The New Book about the Events of the Year 1968 in Czechoslovakia

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 278-282
Author(s):  
Kirill A. Popov
Keyword(s):  
Fiftieth Anniversary ◽  
Warsaw Pact ◽  
Scientific Event ◽  
The Social ◽  
Prague Spring ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Scientific Terms ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Regional Perspective ◽  
The Way

This review is devoted to the monograph by Jan Nedvěd “We do not decline our heads. The events of the year 1968 in Karlovy Vary”. The Karlovy Vary municipal museum coincided its publishing with the fiftieth anniversary of the Prague spring which, considering the way of the presentation, turned the book not only to scientific event but also to the social one. The book describes sociopolitical trends in the region before the year 1968, the development of the reformist movement, the invasion and advance of the armies of the Warsaw Pact countries, and finally the decline of the reformist mood and the beginning of the normalization. Working on his writing, the author deeply studied the materials of the local archive and gathered the unique selection of the photographs depicting the passage of the soviet army through the spa town and the protest actions of its inhabitants. In the meantime, Nedvěd takes undue freedom with scientific terms, and his selection of historiography raises questions. The author bases his research on the Czech papers and scarcely uses the books of Russian origin. He also did not study the subject of the participating of the GDR’s army in the operation Danube, although these troops were concentrated on the borders of Karlovy Vary region as well. Because of this decision, there are no materials from German archives or historiography in the monograph. In general, the work lacks the width of studying its subject, but it definitively accomplishes the task of depicting the Prague spring from the regional perspective.

1968. The “Prague Spring”: Fifty Years Later. Historical Essays

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Market Economy ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
General Reader ◽  
The Past ◽  
Relevant Today ◽  
Prague Spring ◽  
The Military

This book is devoted to a symbolic event that defined the life and values of several generations. Half a century ago, Czech communists tried to give a new impetus to their country’s system of government by combining socialist values with a rational market economy and the mechanisms of a developed democracy. This effort failed, and the state was occupied by the military. This book is the result of joint efforts by Russian, Czech, and Romanian historians, archivists, and cultural and literary scholars, who—exploring new documents and materials—have reinterpreted these events and their lessons from a present-day perspective. Objectively, the “Prague Spring” is from a bygone era, but it is still a milestone, and many of the problems encountered during the Prague Spring are still relevant today. The authors hope that they have contributed to the historiography of the now-distant events of 1968 and that their contributions will help in analysing the experiences of the past in order to be prepared for the events of the future. This book is aimed at specialists in the history and culture of Central and Eastern Europe, students of higher educational institutions, and the general reader interested in twentieth-century history.

scholarly journals Charter 77 in the journalism of the Parisian “Kultura”

2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 173-210
Author(s):  
Paweł Fiktus
Keyword(s):  
Economic Reforms ◽  
Special Period ◽  
Immigrant Communities ◽  
Warsaw Pact ◽  
Prague Spring ◽  
Charter 77 ◽  
Southern Neighbour ◽  
Opposition Movement

Although the Czechoslovak theme was not of particular interest in the journalism of “Kultura” (compared to Ukrainian or Lithuanian issues), it covered issues concerning Poland’s southern neighbour. The year 1968 marked a special period of increased interest in Czechoslovakia and the associated process of a series of social, political and economic reforms, which went down in history under the name of the Prague Spring. The period after the invasion by the Warsaw Pact troops and the start of the so-called process of normalization was also closely commented on by columnists and analysts of “Kultura”. However, particular attention was paid to the activities of the opposition in the area of Charter 77. The purpose of this article is to show how the Parisian “Kultura” referred to the opposition movement in Czechoslovakia. Moreover, Czechoslovak writers associated with Czechoslovak immigrant communities spoke out more often in “Kultura” pages

scholarly journals Skolen der ikke stopper med ikke at etablere sig

2018 ◽  
pp. 33-50
Author(s):  
Henrik Jøker Bjerre
Keyword(s):  
Slavoj Zizek ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
Slavoj Žižek ◽  
Prague Spring ◽  
History Of ◽  
Che Guevara

The history of the Slovenian School is more diverse, and longer, than one might expect. To trace the origins of what is today often referred to as the Slovenian School, one has to go back to 1971, when Rastko Močnik and Slavoj Žižek started taking up contemporary French structuralism to find new approaches to understanding the events in Europe and elsewhere, from Che Guevara to the Prague Spring. This article tracks down the major historical points in the development of the school, as well as some of its major philosophical assumptions, and argues that it has never really established itself as one. And that this continues to be one of its major virtues.

scholarly journals Good Material: Canada and the Prague Spring Refugees

Refuge ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Madokoro
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Charismatic Leader ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Good Material ◽  
Prague Spring ◽  
Soviet Invasion ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
East West

In August 1968, the Soviet Union sent troops into Czechoslovakia to crush the burgeoning spirit of reform known as the “Prague Spring”. The Soviet invasion and the return of oppressive government measures triggered the flight of twenty-seven thousand people, eleven thousand of whom came to Canada.Using newly released archival records, this paper explores how the Canadian government approached the refugee crisis and argues that confident officials, buoyed by a charismatic leader and operating in an era of improved East-West relations, manipulated the conventional definition of a refugee and consciously adopted policies that enabled large numbers of Czechoslovakian refugees to resettle in Canada.

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