Václav Havel: The Political Uses of Tragedy in the Aftermath of Communism

2014 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Vaclav Havel

scholarly journals Obraz první Československé republiky při projednávání Ústavy ČR

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 197-222
Author(s):  
Klára Marková
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
The Political ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Vaclav Havel ◽  
Parliamentary Debates ◽  
First Republic ◽  
Actual Content ◽  
Research Questions

This paper focuses on the image of the political system of the first Czechoslovak Republic in the political discourse connected with the preparation of the Czech Constitution in 1992. It works mainly with records of parliamentary debates between July and December 1992 and considers three types of actors: members of committees working on the constitution, constitutional lawyers and political figures with a significant informal influence, such as Václav Havel. The author asks three interrelated research questions: How was the first Czechoslovak Republic portrayed in the debates on the Czech Constitution? In what context of the discussions and argumentations did the First republic reappear? And what role did the image of the Czechoslovak Republic play in the debates? As I argue, the system of the first Czechoslovak Republic was presented almost always positively, framed by concepts of tradition, democracy, sovereignty, and stability. Conversely, the Senate was portrayed more negatively, as a symbol of inefficiency, futility and expensiveness. The political system of the First Republic and the Constitution of 1920 represented an issue that could not be ignored and had to emerge through discourse. Some speakers did not always portray it properly and rarely spoke about the problematic aspects of the functioning of the political system of the First Republic. However, it was always alluded to as a symbol whose meaning was often more important than its actual content, as it could confirm the legitimacy of power relationships and express identification with a given political line. The fact that the actors chose only certain images of the First Republic, mostly the positive ones, illustrates that they sought to use the power of the symbol of the First Republic.

scholarly journals Václav Havel: Building Beyond Democracy

1991 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
James F. Lea ◽  
Edward M. Wheat
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
The Political ◽  
Vaclav Havel ◽  
Central European ◽  
East European ◽  
Parallel Culture

This study explicates the political thought of the playwright and dissident Vaclav Havel, who emerged as the most important and visible central European intellectual during the ferment leading up to the revolutions of 1989 and now serves as President of Czechoslovakia. Havel’s political thought is centered in the interaction of three themes: the idea of a pretheoretical anti-politics from below; the phenomenon of the second, or parallel, culture; and the principle of living in truth. His ideas are likely to have great impact on Czechoslovakia and possibly other central and east European nations undertaking democratization.

Marxist criticism of Soviet-type society in Czechoslovakia: The political thought of Egon Bondy after 1968

Thesis Eleven ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 159 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-95
Author(s):  
Petr Kužel
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
The Political ◽  
State Socialism ◽  
Ruling Class ◽  
Vaclav Havel ◽  
Velvet Revolution ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Political Approach ◽  
Eventual Collapse

This paper focuses on the development of the political thought of Czech Marxist philosopher Egon Bondy. It examines his criticism of state socialism in the Eastern Block from a Marxist perspective, and it outlines the development of his analysis. The study covers the period from the late 1960s until the Velvet Revolution in 1989, a period during which Bondy explored the historical constitution and nature of a ‘new ruling class’ in the USSR, as well as deeper trends of convergence between Eastern and Western politico-economical systems. In the 1980s Bondy analysed the reasons for the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union. Even though Bondy was, during most of the period of state socialism between 1948–89, a forbidden author, he was also one of the main critics of the political approach of Charta 77 and Václav Havel. This criticism is also outlined in the paper.

Václav Havel and the Political Uses of Tragedy

2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 228-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT PIRRO
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Vaclav Havel

The Social Origins and Provenance of the English Bishops during the Reign of Edward II

1959 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 51-79
Author(s):  
K. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Early Career ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Origins ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Edward Ii ◽  
The Social ◽  
Complete Study ◽  
History Of

During the last twenty or twenty-five years medieval historians have been much interested in the composition of the English episcopate. A number of studies of it have been published on periods ranging from the eleventh to the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. A further paper might well seem superfluous. My reason for offering one is that most previous writers have concentrated on analysing the professional circles from which the bishops were drawn, and suggesting the influences which their early careers as royal clerks, university masters and students, secular or regular clergy, may have had on their later work as bishops. They have shown comparatively little interest in their social background and provenance, except for those bishops who belonged to magnate families. Some years ago, when working on the political activities of Edward II's bishops, it seemed to me that social origins, family connexions and provenance might in a number of cases have had at least as much influence on a bishop's attitude to politics as his early career. I there fore collected information about the origins and provenance of these bishops. I now think that a rather more careful and complete study of this subject might throw further light not only on the political history of the reign, but on other problems connected with the character and work of the English episcopate. There is a general impression that in England in the later middle ages the bishops' ties with their dioceses were becoming less close, and that they were normally spending less time in diocesan work than their predecessors in the thirteenth century.

Democrazy—Dem Go Craze, O: Monitoring the 1999 Nigerian Elections

1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-33
Author(s):  
Darren Kew
Keyword(s):  
Transition Program ◽  
The Political ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Political Class ◽  
Soccer Match ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Military

In many respects, the least important part of the 1999 elections were the elections themselves. From the beginning of General Abdusalam Abubakar’s transition program in mid-1998, most Nigerians who were not part of the wealthy “political class” of elites—which is to say, most Nigerians— adopted their usual politically savvy perspective of siddon look (sit and look). They waited with cautious optimism to see what sort of new arrangement the military would allow the civilian politicians to struggle over, and what in turn the civilians would offer the public. No one had any illusions that anything but high-stakes bargaining within the military and the political class would determine the structures of power in the civilian government. Elections would influence this process to the extent that the crowd influences a soccer match.

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