Publication details
Hodný, zlý a ošklivý? Havel, Klaus, Zeman. Paralelní životopisy
| Title in English | The good, the bad and the ugly? Parallel biographies of Havel, Klaus and Zeman |
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| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Monograph |
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| Description | Václav Havel, Václav Klaus and Miloš Zeman are three figures who have fundamentally influenced modern Czech politics. The depth of this trio’s footprints is certainly not only due to their long stays in the presidential office. Havel provided a focal point for the birth of democracy in 1989. Thanks to his role in dissent during the communist era and the symbolic credibility he accumulated, he was able to underpin the new democracy. Without Havel, Czech democracy would not have had its ethos and would have lacked an internationally well-known face. Klaus and Zeman entered Czech history through their organisational and intellectual activities that broke out of the tight framework of the communist regime. Their agile engagement in the 1990s shaped the foundations of the new politics and created its two main pillars, the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD). Klaus was also an important figure in the economic transformation – and the main protagonist of the fierce controversy that accompanied this process. Zeman became a strong voice questioning the chosen direction of the economic transformation. The opposition agreement of 1998-2002, brokered by the two men, represented the most controversial pact of Czech politics after 1989. The presidential succession after Havel became an opportunity for Klaus (2003-2013), and even more so for Zeman (since 2013), to put a different face on the Czech presidency. |